Game Day: Preds at Islanders Preview

After starting their four-game trip with a win in Detroit, the Nashville Predators have headed east, and their first of three outings in the New York metro area comes tonight against the Islanders at the brand-new UBS Arena. This evening's contest is the second and final meeting between the two clubs this season; the Preds defeated the Isles in a shootout, 3-2, back on Oct. 30 at Bridgestone Arena.
Thanks to their 5-2 victory on Tuesday night over the Red Wings, the Predators have won consecutive games for the first time in over three weeks after alternating wins and losses. Now, Nashville has a chance to assert themselves on the road once more, and Tuesday's outing was another example of the successes that come when the Preds play to their identity.

"The whole game was really good for us," Preds Captain Roman Josi said following the win. "I felt like we were in control for most of the game. Obviously, they had some times where they had a lot of pressure, but I thought we stayed calm for most of the game… We knew it was going to be a hard game, but I just thought [throughout] the 60 minutes we controlled the game for most of it. That's one thing that impressed me most of our team."
"The guys are conscientious of how we need to play, they're committed to how we need to play and then we just want to continue to build on that, but then also tweak certain things that need to get better along the way, such as some of our defensive details," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said Tuesday. "Tonight, we were able to do it. It's good to get off to a win on the road trip. We'll have a good practice day tomorrow, and then we'll go right into the back-to-back."
The Predators elected not to practice on Wednesday in New York with that back-to-back set beginning tonight, and this evening's contest also begins a stretch of three games in four days against the Islanders, Devils and Rangers, respectively.
Prior to Tuesday's game, the Predators recalled goaltender Connor Ingram from Milwaukee due to netminder Juuse Saros being out due to a non-COVID illness. Ingram backed up David Rittich against the Red Wings.
Defenseman Mattias Ekholm also missed Tuesday's game due to non-COVID illness, and defenseman Matt Benning was absent and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Forward Matt Luff was the only healthy scratch for the Predators on Tuesday. Following the game, Hynes said there is no long-term health concern with Ekholm and Saros.

The Good Guys:

Josi, Dante Fabbro and Ryan Johansen all recorded a goal and two assists on Tuesday night in Detroit. Nick Cousins and Eeli Tolvanen also found the back of the net against the Wings, and Rittich made 14 saves in net for his second victory of the season.
Mikael Granlund (5g-21a) leads the Preds in scoring with 26 points, followed by Matt Duchene (13g-11a) and Josi (8g-16a) with 24 points. Johansen has six goals and 19 points, and Filip Forsberg has recorded 11 goals and 16 points in just 15 games. Saros is 11-8-1 in net this season; Rittich is 2-1-0.

The Opposition:

The Islanders snapped an 11-game skid with a 5-3 win over the Senators in Ottawa on Tuesday night. Mathew Barzal (5g-8a) leads the Isles with 13 points, followed by Brock Nelson (9g-2a) with 11 points and Oliver Wahlstrom with seven goals to his name. Ilya Sorokin is 6-6-4 in net; Semyon Varlamov is 0-4-1 on the campaign.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 19-8-(0)-3 all-time against the Islanders, including an 8-4-(0)-2 record on the road.
Prior to this season, Nashville and the New York Islanders last met on Feb. 13, 2020, a 5-0 shutout victory for the Predators on home ice. In the first game between the two teams during the 2019-20 season, the Predators scored eight goals for the seventh time in franchise history en route to an 8-3 win on the road.
The Preds have earned at least a point in nine of their last 10 meetings with the Islanders (8-1-1), including wins in six straight. Nashville's only 3-on-5 goal in franchise history came against the Islanders on Oct. 15, 2002 (Karlis Skrastins).

Notables Versus New York:

Mattias Ekholm owned a six-game point streak vs. the Islanders (2g-6a) from Oct. 28, 2017-Feb. 13, 2020. He has 10 points (2g-8a) in 14 career games against the Islanders. Filip Forsberg has 11 points (6g-5a) in 13 career games against the Islanders, including points in four of his last six games (4g-2a).
Roman Josi has three points (1g-2a) in his last four games vs. New York. He recorded five (5a) of his eight career points (2g-6a) against the Islanders in a four-game span from Feb. 19, 2015-March 17, 2016 and scored the game-winning goal in overtime vs. New York on Feb. 5, 2018.
Nick Cousins has nine points (4g-5a) in 11 career meetings with the Islanders, including a three-point outing (2g-1a) on Jan. 22, 2018. Luke Kunin scored his first career NHL goal on Oct. 26, 2017 vs. the Islanders (Thomas Greiss). Tanner Jeannot notched his first career multi-goal game on Oct. 30 vs. the Islanders.
Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz was the first-ever head coach in Predators history. He went 557-479-(60)-100 in 1,196 games as head coach of the Predators from 1998-14.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for tonight's 6:30 p.m. CT puck drop from Long Island begins at 6 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show on Bally Sports South. Willy Daunic, Chris Mason and Lyndsay Rowley have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber and Hal Gill will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 5:30 p.m. with Darren McFarland. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
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