Wahlstrom Remains out of Islanders Lineup in Game 4 Showdown with Tampa

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Barry Trotz never said he was going to make changes to the New York Islanders lineup, but was mulling them over ahead of Game 4. After all of the speculation, the Islanders lineup remained the same for their showdown with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Long Island.

Trotz told reporters on Friday that he was considering changes to the lineup and that Oliver Wahlstrom was available if they needed him. The comment was in response to a question about the Islanders Game 4 lineup.

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The New York Islanders have had the same lineup since Game 6 of their First-Round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Wahlstrom has not played in a game since he left Game 5 of that series with an injury.

It had been speculated that if Trotz was to have made a change it would have been to insert Wahlstrom back into the lineup and that would have likely meant that Travis Zajac would have come out.

The Islander bench boss did say that he liked the way the team played overall in Game 3.

“Pretty solid game. I don’t have too many things in our game,” Trotz said. “We have to get to the net a little bit better. Obviously the chances we did have Andrei Vasilevskiy made some key saves, just like (Semyon Varlamov) did. Really an even game for me and it’s a matter of inches. It’s a matter of a play. …  I didn’t mind our game at all.”

The Islanders currently trail the best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 5 is scheduled for Monday at 8 p.m. at Amalie Arena.