Game Preview: Islanders at Red Wings

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (5-10-3) VS DETROIT RED WINGS (12-9-3)
7:00 PM | LITTLE CAESARS ARENA
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The New York Islanders take on the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
Following a COVID-19 postponement, the Islanders played their first game in six days on Thursday night where they posted a 2-1 overtime loss to San Jose. In doing so, they collected a hard-earned point in the standings and snapped an eight-game skid where they were without a point. The team's current winless streak is at nine games (0-8-1).

Mathew Barzal scored the Islanders' sole goal of the game against the Sharks, while Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves on 35 shots. The Islanders received a boost in their lineup as they welcomed back Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Andy Greene and Adam Pelech who were all released from COVID-19 protocols.
With the morale boost from getting a point in the standings and embracing some key lineup pieces back, the Islanders are looking to build off Thursday as they take on the Red Wings.
"It's been a long time since we had a point, so we'll take the point," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "It's a step in the right direction. We'll keep trying to clean up our game. We had some good pockets where we were fine and some pockets when we weren't so good. That's been a little bit of the inconsistency that plagued us before we got into the COVID trouble.
Getting these veteran defensemen back like Pelech and hopefully [Zdeno] Chara back into the group that we'll get this right and hopefully take another step."
The Detroit Red Wings enter the matchup riding a four-game winning streak and a five-game point streak. The most recent win for the Red Wings resulted on Wednesday night against the Seattle Kraken as Detroit prevailed in a shootout to claim the 4-3 victory.
In regulation, Robbi Fabbri (power play), Vladislav Namestikov and Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings, while Dylan Larkin and Adam Erne recorded goals in the shootout. Former Islanders netminder Thomas Greiss made 21 saves on 24 shots to secure the win.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• Barzal scored his fifth goal of the season and snapped a five-game pointless stretch. The 24-year-old center has nine points (5G, 4A) through 17 games this season.
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• Sorokin made his 14th start of the season and improved his record to 5-6-3 in the shootout loss. The Russian netminder has a 2.39 GAA, a .929 SV% and three shutouts.
• Coming off COVID-19 protocols, Lee, Bailey, Greene and Pelech all made their debuts at UBS Arena. Lee logged 15:43 ice time, took one shot and threw one hit. Bailey totaled the second-most ice time among forwards with 19:11 minutes. Greene posted an assist on Barzal's opening goal and skated for 19:55 minutes, blocked two shots and threw one hit. Pelech registered a team-high 24:14 of time on ice, posted three shots, threw three hits and had one block.
• While the Islanders picked up a much-needed point, the team is still in search of a win and their losing streak has now reached nine games (0-8-1). Per Eric Hornick, the Islanders' statistician and author of The Skinny, the Islanders have been outscored 34-8 in their nine-game winless stretch. It's the first time since a 10-game streak in November/December 2013 (0-8-2) that the team has gone nine consecutive games without a win.
• The Islanders are 5-3-3 when scoring first and are 0-7-0 when allowing the opening goal.
• Saturday marks the first meeting between the Islanders and Red Wings since Feb. 21, 2020. During three matches throughout the 2019-20 season, the Islanders swept the season series (3-0-0) with a total scoring margin of 16-4.

RED WINGS NOTES:

• Fabbri scored his fifth goal of the season and his second goal on the power play. The center now has 11 points (5G, 6A) through 24 games.
• Namestikov buried his eighth goal of the season and now has 13 points (8G, 5A) through 24 games.
• With his 10th goal of the season, Raymond extended his team lead in scoring to 22 points and is tied with Larkin for the most goals among the team. The Swiss winger has goals in three of his last four games. The 19-year-old earned the 'Rookie of the Month' honors by the NHL as he tallied 12 points (5G, 7A) in 14 games.
• Like Raymond, Moritz Seider is flexing his offensive production in his rookie season where the German defenseman has totaled 16 points (2G, 14A) through 24 games which ranks the third highest among NHL rookies. Seider posted two assists against Seattle.
• With the shootout win, Greiss improved his record to 5-6-0 as he made his 11th start of the season. The veteran German goalie has a 3.34 GAA and a .899 SV%. Greiss spent five seasons with the Islanders, recording a 101-60-17 record, with a 2.70 GAA, a .915 SV% and 10 shutouts. Greiss was part of the Islanders goalie tandem that claimed the William M. Jennings Trophy in 2018-19 and is fifth all-time in Islanders goalie wins.
• Greiss' goalie tandem partner Alex Nedeljkovic has made 13 starts this season and boasts a 7-3-0 record, a 2.58 GAA and a .923 SV%.
• In the offseason, Detroit acquired defenseman Nick Leddy from the Islanders for Richard Panik and a 2021 second-round pick (Aatu Raty) and Richard Panik. Leddy spent seven seasons with the Islanders, racking up 243 points (45G, 198A) in 518 games. Leddy ranks fourth in points and sixth in games played all-time among Isles d-men. Since joining the Red Wings, Leddy has dished out seven assists through 24 games.
• Detroit also acquired Nedeljkovic, forwards Pius Suter, Mitchell Stephens and defenseman Jordan Oesterle in the offseason.
• Prior to Wednesday's game against Seattle, Tyler Bertuzzi was placed in COVID-19 protocols. Bertuzzi is third on the Red Wings with 18 points (9G, 9A) in 20 games this season.
• Danny DeKeyser (COVID-19 protocols) and Joe Veleno (upper body) came off injured reserve and practiced with the team on Friday. Both players are available for Saturday's game.
• Detroit has placed Jakub Vrana (upper body), Troy Stecher (undisclosed) and Stephens (lower body) on injured reserve.