Islanders at Devils preview

ISLANDERS (29-26-7) at DEVILS (31-22-8)
6:15 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV

Grabner, acquired by the Devils in a trade with the New York Rangers on Thursday, will play left wing on a line with center Pavel Zacha and right wing Kyle Palmieri. The Devils have 70 points and lead the Columbus Blue Jackets by five points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Islanders have 65 points and are even with the Blue Jackets for the second wild card from the East.

Players to watch

Islanders rookie center Mathew Barzal has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in his past seven games.
Devils forward Taylor Hall will try to extend his 13-game point streak (nine goals, seven assists), best in the NHL this season. He has 14 goals and 14 assists in a personal 20-game point streak, missing three games with a thumb injury (Jan. 22-25).

They said it

"[Grabner] is really explosive and a really good penalty-killer; I'm sure he's excited going to a team that's in a pretty good position and close to home. Obviously, his first game against us, where he had some good years. He works hard and he's found that scoring touch so it'll be a challenge for us." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight
"In my first game as a Ranger, I played against the Islanders, so this is becoming a pattern. Obviously, I don't care who we play, but if you look at the standings we could be gain a little more breathing room so I'm just going to do my best and help the team win tonight." -- Devils forward Michael Grabner

Islanders projected lineup

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

Devils projected lineup

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

Status report

Quine was placed on injured reserve Friday. ... Stafford will play after missing one game because of a lower-body injury.

Stat pack

Tavares has seven points (four goals, three assists) in the past 10 games. ... Hischier has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games. Wood has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past five games.