Islanders Handle Bruins

Forwards: Moulson-Tavares-Parenteau; Ullstrom-Nielsen-Bailey; Niederreiter-Cizikas-Okposo; Martin-Reasoner-Pandolfo.

Defensive pairings: Streit-Staios; Hamonic-MacDonald; Eaton-Jurcina.

Evgeni Nabokov is in goal with Anders Nilsson backing up.

Nino Niederreiter will be in for Michael Grabner, who is out sick.

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Today, Your New York Islanders were on target against the mighty Boston Bruins. 

They defeated the second place Bruins team by the score of 3-2 at TD Garden in Boston.  Evgeni Nabokov was the difference again for New York going 32/34 with .941 Sv% and improving to 10-4-1 in his last 15 games.  When asked about the win, Nabokov told NHL.com, "Well I think it's pretty obvious right? Any two points for us right now are important and this is no different," said Nabokov. "The next game is going to be important and then the game after that. We are in a position where every single game is important."

The Islanders looked good on offense and on special teams as well.  A resurgent Josh Bailey, Matt Moulson and John Tavares scored for the Isles.  You have to love the energy Casey Cizikas has brought to the line up so far.  He is playing like he wants to stay around for a while and may just be earning an opportunity to do so.  Nino Niederreiter continues to play hard but has stuggled to find his game.  All four lines played well and the suspect defense looked much better in todays effort, despite being outshot 34-25.

Travis Hamonic plays hard, and still mixes it up despite his badly broken nose and facemask.  P.A. Parenteau contines to play with a firey spirit and battles for his team mates throughout the game.  He is even vocal from the bench where he can be seen shouting to the officals in response to an unfair play against his team mates. While former Islander, Brian Rolston was on the ice for Boston, his team mate Mike Mottau was a scratched for 2^nd time in three games since joining the team.

The Islanders are barely in the playoff hunt at 7 points behind the eighth place Winnipeg Jets with 15 games remaining.  Starting tomorrow, the Isles will start a trilogy against the rival New Jersey Devils.  Sundays game is home @3 p.m., Thursdays game is in N.J. @ 7 p.m. and Saturdays is back at the NVMC @ 7 p.m.