NY Islanders vs. St. Louis Blues game preview

Final Match
Playing to their strengths on Tuesday night, the NY Islanders forced overtime in another game this season after falling behind the Pittsburgh Penguins 4–2 in the third period. But unlike the Stadium Series game against the New York Rangers, this time around the Blue and Orange won the extra point because of the incredible actions of Adam Pelech, of all people. Against their longstanding division foe, Brock Nelson, Mat Barzal, and Pelech each managed one goal and one assist; Mike Reilly and Simon Holmstrom scored the other goals. Ilya Sorokin held his ground, stopping 37 of 41 shots.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, without Morgan Reilly, were the opponent for the St. Louis Blues’ most recent home loss. Auston Matthews’ goal-scoring frenzy continued to claim another victim, this time against St. Louis. Last night, in only his 54th game, he came one goal closer to his 50th career goal. William Nylander’s game-winning goal was scored in the third period, but the Blues had a terrible break. Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad netted the two Bluenote goals in the 4-2 defeat. After facing 28 shots on goal, Joel Hofer made 25 saves.

Historical Differencing
The previous season, New York and St. Louis shared a draw in their meetings; the Isles triumphed 5-2 away from home at Enterprise Center, while the Blues triumphed 7-4 at UBS Arena. The road triumph was led by two points each from Nelson, Anders Lee, and Noah Dobson. Although Dobson scored two goals as well in the home game, St. Louis’s dispersed scoring and two goals from Noel Acciari helped them win on Long Island. Oliver Wahlstrom is noteworthy for having three points in his five career games versus the Blues and two assists in his two games from the previous campaign.

Participants to Watch
After failing to score more than 62 points in any season since his rookie year, Barzal’s play for New York this season has been terrific, which is a welcome relief. He is now three points short of reaching 59 points with 17 goals and 42 assists. Consistently putting up big numbers, the former 16th overall choice in 2015 is becoming into the explosive player he was always supposed to be. In terms of consistency, he has only had one run this season when he has gone more than a few games without scoring. At the moment, he is riding an eight-game point streak with 11 points over that time. Tonight, St. Louis will attempt to shadow him as a player.

This season, Robert Thomas has been the Bluenotes’ top offensive player by a wide margin. He and the other four players on the team led the team with 19 goals each, but no one else on the team can match his 43 assists. The former 2017 first-round draft selection is on track to break his previous career best of 77 points by the conclusion of the season and is just one goal short of equal his season-high goal total of 20. The defense of the Islanders will need to be on the lookout for Thomas, as he is a quick, devious, and inventive playmaker.

Lines Projected

slanders
Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Anders Lee
Brock Nelson, Pierre Engvall, and Kyle Palmieri
Oliver Wahlstrom, JG Pageau, and Simon Holmstrom
Cal Clutterbuck, Kyle Maclean, and Matt Martin

Romanov, Alexander – Noah Dobson
Ryan Pulock – Adam Pelech
Reilly, Mike – Scott Mayfield

Varlamov, Semyon
Ilya Sorokin

Blues
Jordan – Robert Thomas – Pavel Buchnevich Kyrou
Zachary Bolduc, Brayden Schenn, and Jake Neighbors
Kevin Hayes, Brandon Saad, and Kasperi Kapanen
Nathan Walker, Oskar Sundqvist, and Alexey Toropchenko