Sunshine State Showdown: Islanders Lines, Matchups and Game Notes vs. Florida

SUNRISE, FL — It’s been 668 days since the New York Islanders and Florida Panthers have faced one another in a regular-season game. The two clubs haven’t faced each other at all since the playoffs in the Toronto bubble in 2020.

That will change on Saturday as the Islanders look to bounce back from the disappointing start to the year they had in their 6-3 loss to Carolina on Thursday. New York is sure to have a bit more jump after losing a game where they struggled on the power play and communication breakdowns led directly to goals for their opponent.

Saturday could bring the first roster shake-up of the season as well. Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said that change to the lineup was possible out of both necessity and as a light a little bit of a spark under the team.

#Isles Trotz said he may make one change. Says it could come out of necessity and to give the team a little spark.

— Christian Arnold (@C_Arnold01) October 16, 2021

The likely candidate would be Ross Johnston to come out of the lineup and have Leo Komarov play in his spot. Komarov has been a Trotz favorite and has often opted to play the veteran over less experienced players.

Johnston only played 5:50 in Thursday’s loss.

Matt Martin will also miss his second consecutive game of the season. Martin did make the trip to South Florida, but Trotz ruled out the forward ahead of Saturday’s game.

Ilya Sorokin is expected to get his second start of the year and Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start for Florida. Bobrovsky has a .928 save percentage and 2.18 goals-against average in 27 career games against the Isles.

Florida is expected to ice the same lineup that they did on Thursday, but they could put Mason Marchment into the lineup. Marchment did not play in Florida’s season opener, Florida Hockey Now reported that he has been skating and could be ready to return.

Cal Clutterbuck asked about any extra importance on the outcome of games with #Isles on their 13 game road trip: "We're kind of a one day at a time type of team. … If you start to worry about 13 games on the road in a row you're going to start giving yourself a headache."

— Christian Arnold (@C_Arnold01) October 16, 2021

NEW YORK ISLANDERS LINEUP (PROJECTED)

Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Kyle Palmieri

Anthony Beauvillier — Brock Nelson — Josh Bailey

Zach Parise — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Oliver Wahlstrom

Ross Johnston — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock

Zdeno Chara — Noah Dobson

Andy Greene — Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin

Cory Schneider

Florida Panthers Lines (Projected)

Carter Verhaeghe — Sasha Barkov — Sam Reinhart

Jonathan Huberdeau — Sam Bennett — Owen Tippett

Frank Vatrano — Anton Lundell — Patric Hornqvist

Ryan Lomberg — Joe Thornton — Anthony Duclair

MacKenzie Weegar — Aaron Ekblad

Gus Forsling — Radko Gudas

Matt Kiersted  — Brandon Montour

Sergei Bobrovsky

Spencer Knight

Game Notes

Thursday’s overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins is the third consecutive home-opener that Florida has won. … Florida has won 12 of their last 13 home games dating back to March 20 against Nashville (12-1-0). That also includes their past five consecutive regular-season games at FLA Live Arena. … Aleksander Barkov has been an Islanders killer, recording 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 17 career games against New York. … Josh Bailey recorded his 350th career assist on Thursday in the Islanders’ loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. He moved to fifth on the Isles all-time assists list and passing John Tavares. … The Islanders have won their last four regular-season games against Florida, which included two times in the shootout. … Anders Lee’s goal on Thursday was his 185th career point and he now sits in 12th place on the Islanders’ all-time points list.

HOW TO WATCH

The game will air locally on MSG Plus and on the radio dial, the game can be heard on 1050 AM ESPN, 88.7 FM WRHU and 103.9 FM LI News Radio.