Islanders at Devils preview

ISLANDERS (32-36-10) at DEVILS (40-28-9)
7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV

The Devils, 6-2-1 in their past nine games, own the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference and are three points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the first wild card with one game in hand. New Jersey is three points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who lost 5-1 at the Boston Bruins earlier Saturday.
The Islanders, 3-11-4 in their past 18 games, were eliminated from playoff contention Monday.

Players to watch

Islanders center John Tavares has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in his past 10 games.
Devils left wing Taylor Hall has three goals and seven assists during a six-game point streak.

They said it

"I think moving forward, I want to see our penalty kill get better. Looking at the last two or three weeks when it's begun to look dire, you look back at games and you try to think about how we can progress as a team. We've got a lot of guys who can play the game and battle. We have to track pucks hard, and have to roll lines." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight
"We've worked really hard this year from Day One of training camp, so to get rewarded in the sense that we're in the hunt and can kind of control our own destiny is great. If you would have told us that the beginning of the year we would have taken that no matter what. It's exciting, especially when you know there's five games left and we're on a back-to-back." -- Devils defenseman Will Butcher

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- John Tavares -- Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier -- Mathew Barzal -- Tanner Fritz
Andrew Ladd -- Brock Nelson -- Cal Clutterbuck
Ross Johnston -- Chris Wagner
Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk
Thomas Hickey -- Ryan Pulock
Brandon Davidson -- Adam Pelech
Dennis Seidenberg
Thomas Greiss
Christopher Gibson
Scratched:Scott Mayfield
Injured:Jaroslav Halak (illness), Josh Bailey (upper body), Casey Cizikas (upper body), Nikolay Kulemin (upper body), Calvin de Haan (upper body), Shane Prince (lower body), Alan Quine (lower body)

Devils projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Michael Grabner -- Pavel Zacha -- Patrick Maroon
Blake Coleman -- Travis Zajac -- Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood -- Brian Boyle -- Brian Gibbons
Andy Greene -- Sami Vatanen
John Moore -- Damon Severson
Mirco Mueller -- Will Butcher
Keith Kinkaid
Cory Schneider
Scratched:Ben Lovejoy, Drew Stafford, Jimmy Hayes, Jesper Bratt
Injured:Marcus Johansson (concussion)

Status report

The Islanders, who dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen in a 5-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, did not skate. Bailey is questionable. ... Johansson hasn't been cleared to play, but has been cleared for contact.

Stat pack

Eberle has seven points (one goal, six assists) in the past six games. Barzal has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in his past 17 games. ... Palmieri has scored four times during a three-game goal streak.