Islanders Weekend in Florida: Make or Break Time; Injury Updates

The New York Islanders have won six straight games as they ship down to the state of Florida for a pair of games that have the potential to undo the good done in the last two weeks completely.

First up, a game with the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. It goes without saying just how important this game is, but let’s address it anyway. The Lightning are currently in possession of the second wild card, with 57 points in 50 games. The Islanders have 53 points through their first 50 games. A win tonight guarantees the Islanders will, at worst, be just three points out of a playoff spot if the Boston Bruins win today.

Six straight wins have led up to this moment in the Sunshine State, where grabbing two points tonight will truly assert the Islanders’ return to the race. The Islanders can fall right back down the standings if it’s a loss. Anthony Duclair is not expected to play due to an illness, so Maxim Tsyplakov is sliding up to line two, and Pierre Engvall draws back in (Courtesy of Andrew Gross, Newsday).

The Islanders are starting Ilya Sorokin, while Andrei Vasilevskiy gets the nod for Tampa as both Russian superstar goalies look to help their team in a major playoff race game.

Trades are starting to happen. The Rangers acquired J.T. Miller last night. The Dallas Stars, a potential suitor for Brock Nelson, just acquired Mikael Granlund from the San Jose Sharks for a first-round pick and a conditional fourth-round pick that can become a third.

If the Islanders’ bottom falls out this weekend and they can’t fix it ahead of the Four Nation’s Face-Off, then the bidding war for Brock Nelson will commence. If Granlund netted a first, the price for Nelson would be rightfully exorbitant.

Injury Updates

Islanders President and General Manager Lou Lamoriello met with the media in Tampa Bay and provided injury updates on every single currently injured Islander, aside from Mike Reilly. Reilly’s status has not changed as he continues to recover from heart surgery.

First, he provided concrete timelines for Marcus Hogberg. According to Lamoriello, Hogberg has a clear four-week timeline, so he’s expected to be fully ready after the Four Nation’s Face-Off.

Ryan Pulock, who was injured in the same game as Hogberg, will resume skating during the break and should be ready shortly thereafter. Lamoirello gave Noah Dobson the same timeline, with a potential coming at the end of February.

Those can all be considered good news and leave the Islanders with some major roster decisions when they return. Goalie-wise, it’s simple. Jakub Skarek will return to Bridgeport. Defensively, decisions will have to be made.

First, it’s widely expected that as soon as one of Pulock or Dobson is ready, Dennis Cholowski will be waived and, if unclaimed, sent to Bridgeport. Cholowski had plenty of opportunities this season but never fully seized ahold of them. From there, the decisions will also be made about the three new arrivals- Adam Boqvist, Scott Perunovich, and Anthony DeAngelo.

DeAngelo likely sticks in any lineup at this point, but it’s worth noting that he’s a righty, and barring any trades, he’s not playing over Pulock, Dobson, or Scott Mayfield. Ditto for Perunovich, a lefty who’s played mostly with Adam Pelech.

Boqvist is skating with Mayfield tonight in his first audition for a job, and make no mistake. One of those three will remain in the lineup and skate with Mayfield when the team is fully healthy. Right now, the safe pick is DeAngelo will play on his off-side with Mayfield, but the club has been very impressed with what Perunovich brought in his first two games- both of which he had an assist.

Someone will have to be waived, and unless he shows a lot, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Islanders try and sneak Boqvist through waivers. Only time will tell.