The New York Islanders take on the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.
ISLANDERS (15-10-3) at LIGHTNING (16-9-2)
7 p.m. ET; The Spot, MSGSN
Islanders projected lineup
Emil Heineman — Bo Horvat — Maxim Shabanov
Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Maxim Tsyplakov
Anthony Duclair — Calum Ritchie — Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean — Casey Cizikas — Marc Gatcomb
Matthew Schaefer — Ryan Pulock
Adam Pelech — Tony DeAngelo
Adam Boqvist — Scott Mayfield
Ilya Sorokin
David Rittich
Scratched: Travis Mitchell
Injured: Kyle Palmieri (torn ACL), Alexander Romanov (upper body), Jean-Gabriel Pageau (upper body), Semyon Varlamov (knee), Ethan Bear (upper body), Jonathan Drouin (lower body)
Status report
Pageau, a center, has been upgraded to day to day from week to week and could return as early as Sunday against the Florida Panthers. He will miss his seventh straight game. …Drouin did not travel with the Islanders; the forward is also day to day.
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Lightning projected lineup
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Nick Paul
Jake Guentzel — Dominic James — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Zemgus Girgensons — Yanni Gourde — Pontus Holmberg
Curtis Douglas — Jack Finely — Gage Goncalves
Victor Hedman — J.J. Moser
Charle-Edouard D’Astous — Emil Lilleberg
Darren Raddysh — Max Crozier
Jonas Johansson
Brandon Halverson
Scratched: Jack Finley, Steven Santini
Injured: Brayden Point (undisclosed), Ryan McDonagh (undisclosed), Erik Cernak (undisclosed), Andrei Vasilevskiy (undisclosed), Nikita Kucherov (undisclosed)
Status report
Hedman will play for the first time since Nov. 8 after missing 12 games with an undisclosed injury. … Kucherov, a forward, participated in the morning skate but will not play. … Vasilevskiy, a goalie, will miss his second straight game.
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