Islanders at Jets preview

ISLANDERS (20-13-4) at JETS (21-11-6)
8 p.m. ET; TSN3, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV

The Islanders, who have won two straight after going 2-5-2 in their previous nine games, will be without defenseman Johnny Boychuk, who was placed on injured reserve on Thursday with a lower-body injury.
Goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who has allowed four goals in his past two wins, will start for New York.
The Jets will be without center Mark Scheifele, who will miss 6-8 weeks with an upper-body injury. Scheifele, Winnipeg's second-leading scorer with 38 points (15 goals, 23 assists), was hit by Edmonton Oilers defenseman Brandon Davidson and fell awkwardly into the boards during 4-3 win on Wednesday.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck will start; he's 3-0-1 with eight goals allowed in his past four starts.

Players to watch

Islanders forward Josh Bailey has 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in a nine-game point streak, and leads the League with 37 assists.
Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak.

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They said it

"It's just lower-body, week-to-week, it's nothing too crazy. Johnny plays the game hard, old school and just a little banged up. I think it's something we had to address and get him some rest." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight on defenseman Johnny Boychuk's injury
"We believe in our group, we believe we have enough in here to win hockey games. It's just about every guy making sure every time they're on the ice, they try and have an impact. We should be all right. We should still be competitive and still have an opportunity to win a lot of hockey games." -- Jets forward Blake Wheeler

Islanders projected lineup

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

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Blake Wheeler -- Patrik Laine
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Bryan Little -- Mathieu Perreault
Andrew Copp -- Adam Lowry -- Brandon Tanev
Shawn Matthias -- Matt Hendricks -- Joel Armia
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Tucker Poolman
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Steve Mason
Scratched:Marko Dano, Julian Melchiori
Injured:Toby Enstrom (lower body), Dustin Byfuglien (lower body), Mark Scheifele (upper body)

Status report

The Islanders called up Aho from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Thursday to take Boychuk's place on the roster.

Stat pack

Tavares has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in an eight-game point streak. … Barzal has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak.