New York Islanders play host to the Florida Panthers - NHL Previews
The first game Monday will be hosted by the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum as they will be up against the Florida Panthers.
This will be the third out of the four scheduled meetings to take place between the two sides.
The Panthers won the first game 4-3 in a very tight game while the second game saw the Panthers dominating the game to win 4-1 in the end.
This will be the first time the teams face each other since their last meeting back on the 20th November, 2010.
Both teams are outside the play-off cut and from the looks of it have slim chances of making it into the play-offs. However, a regulation time will help them a great deal in the surge to the top half of the Eastern Conference.
The Panthers have a chance of making into the play-offs with some counting out the Islanders.
However, the Islanders have won 17 games in regulation time and scored a point in 12 games out of the 31 games they have played. They are just four points behind the New Jersey Devils who said by many that they are on the play-off roads. Considering this,
they still have a chance of making it into the cut.
"Obviously something's going well," Isles forward Blake Comeau said. "Guys are playing hard and (coach Jack Capuano's) giving guys the chance to be creative."
Al Montoya, goalkeeper of the Islanders made a great start to his career when his was with the Phoenix Coyotes which saw him making 23 saves and maintaining a clean sheet against the Colorado Avalanche.
In his debut game of the Islanders, this past Saturday he came up with a splendid performance that saw him making 35 saves and maintaining another clean sheet as the Islanders won 3-0 against the Los Angeles Kings.
"Our team came out and played hard," Montoya said. "We knew this was going to be a good team tonight. We controlled their momentum swings.. They came back and pushed in the second, but we held our ground, did a good job and took care of business."
The Islanders have played 59 games in season so far out of which they have won 22 games in regulation time, seven games in overtime and scored 51 points.
Panthers have played 58 games out of which they have won 25 games in overtime and seven in overtime to score 57 points.
The Panthers are on a road trip and this is the second game. The first game saw them up against the Tampa Bay Lightning which they won 3-2 after shootout.
Mike Santorelli was the star of the game as he scored the goal with just three minutes left to level the scores for the Islanders.
"One thing that this team does is give the fans their money's worth in effort," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said. "It's not always pretty, and we don't always win, but they don't cheat you in effort."
The game is going to be very interesting as each team tries to be the stumbling block for the other in order to win and score valuable points.
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