Gameday Preview – 1/18/2019 – New York Islanders v. Washington Capitals

New York Islanders (27-15-4 58pts) v. Washington Capitals (27-14-5 59pts)

Time: 730p EST

Station: NBC Sports Washington, MSG+, and SportsNet 1

Preview:

The Washington Capitals host the New York Islanders as he makes his first trip back to DC after leading the Capitals to the Stanley Cup this past summer. The Capitals will look to end their three game losing streak and keep themselves atop the Metropolitan Division.

New York Islanders:

Projected Lineup:

Anders Lee — Brock Nelson — Jordan Eberle

Anthony Beauvillier — Mathew Barzal — Josh Bailey

Tom Kuhnhackl — Valtteri Filppula — Leo Komarov

Matt Martin — Casey Cizikas — Cal Clutterbuck

Nick Leddy — Johnny Boychuk

Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock

Devon Toews — Scott Mayfield

Thomas Greiss

Robin Lehner

Scratched: Ross Johnston, Michael Dal Colle, Luca Sbisa

Injured: Thomas Hickey (upper body), Andrew Ladd (lower body)

Keys to the Game:

1. Keep up the quick starts

The last two games the Islanders have jumped to 3 goal leads early, and with the struggles the Capitals have been going through lately it would benefit the Islanders to get a quick lead to start this game as well.

Washington Capitals:

Projected Lineup:

Caps expected lineup:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Burakovsky-Eller-Connolly
Stephenson-Dowd-DSP

Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Siegenthaler

Boyd is out, so Eller will take that spot on the second power play. Jaskin and Bowey also out.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 18, 2019

Keys to the Game:

1. Get a good start

The Capitals need a good start to get their game going in a positive way. If the Capitals can score the first goal, or get an early powerplay which can get them generating offensively it will push away some of those negative vibes.