New York Islanders

Islanders Game 43 Preview at Minnesota Wild: Lines, Notes & How To Watch

Published

3 months ago

January 15, 2024

The New York Islanders (19-13-10) look to bounce back as they play the first half of a back-to-back tonight against the Minnesota Wild (17-20-5) at Xcel Energy Center. Here’s what you need to know before puck drop.

Projected Lines:

Lee-Horvat-Wahlstrom

Engvall-Nelson-Fasching

Holmstrom-Barzal-Palmieri

Martin-Pageau-Clutterbuck

Romanov-Dobson

Pelech-Mayfield

Reilly-Aho

Sorokin

Appleby

Last Time Out:

The Islanders played a solid 59:53 of hockey on Saturday night against the Nashville Predators, but the final seven seconds of the game cost them.

Alexandre Carrier broke a 1-1 tie for the Predators when his shot from the point broke the stick of Scott Mayfield before floating through the air and into the back of the Islanders’ net for the game-winning goal.

The loss felt almost unimaginable, but Lane Lambert had a few words to describe it anyway.

The Opponent:

The last time the Islanders saw the Minnesota Wild, it resulted in a 4-2 defeat at UBS Arena and Pierre Engvall being made a healthy scratch the next game.

However, that was the last win for Minnesota before it endured a seven-game losing streak that ultimately resulted in Dean Evason being removed as head coach. Now, the Wild are under new leadership in head coach John Hynes.

Since Hynes took over on Nov. 27, Minnesota is 12-10-1 and is in another lengthy slump, having lost seven of its last 10 games.

The Wild have had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with injuries to key players this season. Captain Jared Spurgeon is currently sitting on injured reserve.

Kiril Kaprizov leads the Wild in points with 35, while Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek are pacing the team in goals with 15 a piece.

The venerable Marc-Andre Fleury will start tonight for the Wild. He boasts a record of 7-9-3 with a 3.12 GAA and a .893 save percentage.

Minnesota has the NHL’s 21st overall power play and its 30th-ranked shorthanded unit.

How To Watch:

Puck drop between the Islanders and Wild from Xcel Energy Center is scheduled for just past 6 p.m. EST. The game is available to watch on MSGSN or streamed on MSG Plus or ESPN Plus for out-of-market viewers. 88.7 FM WRHU will produce the radio feed of the game, which can also be heard on 1050 AM ESPN or 103.9 FM WRCN.