The Islanders currently hold the first wild card position into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings.
The Hurricanes will be without rookie forward Phillip Di Giuseppe, who took a hit along the wall in Carolina's 3-2 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. In his place, Patrick Brown was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League. An undrafted college free agent in 2014, Brown jumped from Boston College straight to the NHL last season. He played in Carolina's first seven games, all losses in what became an 0-6-2 start.
"I don't think we won a game while I was up here, but it was still a dream come true," Brown said. "I hope I can contribute a lot more now that I'm a little more seasoned player."
Brown has 13 goals and 10 assists with Charlotte this season. With two professional seasons under his belt, he expects his second turn in the NHL to be less stressful.
"Last year I was pretty nervous, breathing heavy," said Brown, whose father, Doug, played 15 seasons in the NHL. "I feel confident. I've got my game legs under me (because) I've played a full season so far."
Defenseman Justin Faulk returned to the Carolina lineup against Columbus after missing 18 of the previous 19 games following a knee injury sustained in practice.
"I feel fine on the ice," Faulk said. "I tried coming back right away and it just didn't work out. Taking the time off to let it heal and get to where I am now was big. It was a tough situation, never fun to go through."
Here are the projected lineups:
ISLANDERS
Josh Bailey - John Tavares - Ryan Strome
Nikolay Kulemin - Frans Nielsen - Kyle Okposo
Shane Prince - Brock Nelson - Anders Lee
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Nick Leddy - Johnny Boychuk
Calvin de Haan - Travis Hamonic
Thomas Hickey - Ryan Pulock
J-F Berube
Thomas Greiss
Injured: Adam Pelech (upper body), Marek Zidlicky (upper body), Jaroslav Halak (groin), Mikhail Grabovski (upper body)
Scratched: Brian Strait, Steve Bernier
HURRICANES
Joakim Nordstrom - Jordan Staal - Elias Lindholm
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Riley Nash
Chris Terry - Jay McClement - Patrick Brown
Nathan Gerbe - Brad Malone - Brody Sutter
Jaccob Slavin - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Brett Pesce
Ron Hainsey - Ryan Murphy
Eddie Lack
Cam Ward
Injured: James Wisniewski (knee), Andrej Nestrasil (back)
Scratched: Michal Jordan
Status report: Wisniewski, who has not played since the first game of the season, has begun skating before practices.
Who's hot: Bailey has three assists in the past two games. … Nelson has goals in two straight games. … Terry has three goals and one assist in the past four games. … Hanifin has an assist in each of the past three games.
