Islanders Gameday News: Tough trip, more injuries, keep going

The Islanders attempt to continue this improbable hot run — seven wins in a row, and 10 in 12 — with even more challenges as they head to south Florida for the back end of a back-to-back. Last night required extra time, but only 33 seconds of it, but they also have the further of injuries to Scott Mayfield and Mat Barzal, both of whom left the win over the Lightning.

Updates on those guys are likely to come shortly before the game; Mayfield’s incident looked like a joint, Barzal’s an impact from a shot block that appeared right above the knee. We’ll see.

One fun wrinkle for tonight is Adam Boqvist, who scored in his debut last night, facing the team that considered him surplus and waived him. I’m sure we’ll see why he’s bounced around in his young career (injuries also a factor) soon enough, but last night at least we saw some of his strengths on display.

Leave First Islanders Goal picks here.

Islanders News

• About last night: Gutsy win, more injuries. [Isles | LHH | Post]
• This injury update is already outdated given the Tampa game, but Noah Dobson and Ryan Pulock should skate during the 4 Nations break, while Semyon Varlamov is out indefinitely, and Marcus Hogberg should hopefully be ready after the break. Lou Lamoriello also talked about what he said to Isaiah George, all encouraging, in assigning him back to the AHL. [Post | Newsday]

• Previewing tonight: Can they make it eight? They owe the Panthers one, as last meeting in October they blew a 3-0 lead to lose 6-3. [Isles]
• The Skinny: This is the 9th time in club history that the Isles have won at least seven straight…they’ve outscored the opposition 24-9 during this streak. [Isles]
• A storybook start to Tony DeAngelo’s start with the Islanders. [THN]
• And the other storybook start, Boqvist — was the secret wearing gloves labeled for Beauvillier? [THN]

Elsewhere

Saturday’s other NHL scores included the Smurfs losing in J.T. Miller’s return, and tonight’s foe the Panthers winning at home over the Blackhawks.

• MOAR trades. The Stars are dealing with Islanders-like injury blows, so they acquired Cody Ceci and Mikael Granlund from the Sharks for draft picks. [NHL]
• And this is a little old, but shortly after completing the J.T. Miller trade the Canucks flipped the 1st-rounder and some depth to the Penguins for Marcus Pettersson, among other things. [NHL]
• Ryan Hartman, generally seen as a dick, will have an in-person hearing for driving Tom Stutzle’s face into the ice on a faceoff. He seemed bemused when given a match penalty, so either he really is such a dick, or maaaaaybe it was a faceoff move that ended up way worse than he intended? [NHL | Sportsnet]
• Probably the latter. It came as the Senators torched the Wild, 6-0. [Sportsnet]
• Patrik Allvin faced the media on the whole Miller trade and assorted drama. [TSN]
• All about the jerseys for the 4 Nations tournament. [NHL]