Red Wings-Islanders Preview & Where to Watch

Tonight, the Detroit Red Wings (2-3-0) will look to win consecutive games for the first time this season, taking on Patrick Roy's New York Islanders (2-1-2) at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.  Per Detroit coach Derek Lalonde, the path to doing so runs through building on Saturday's effort in Nashville.  "I just wanna build off where we were the other day," the third-year head man said after this morning's skate. "Really good team game, good defensive game, found the back of the net on the power play.  Just a positive, and we'd like to build off it."

Lalonde described the win over the Predators as "probably our best rhythm game on Saturday, where we just flowed the four lines, really comfortable in any match-up we got on the road, and trusted every line, so it ended up being a positive team game for us."

Detroit is expected to deploy a similar, if not identical, lineup to the one that won in Nashville, down to Alex Lyon in net.  "Obviously we got an unbelievable game from Alex the other night," said Lalonde, of the state of the goaltending rotation and the decision to return to Lyon.  "It just builds confidence throughout our group. I think the two wins, we've gotten elite-type goaltending."

Through three games, panic was brewing in Hockeytown, but, after a strong performance Saturday, the Red Wings have a chance in .  As Patrick Kane put it this morning, "I think we put ourselves in a situation where if we can start the year 3-3, I think [we] can be happy with that, especially given how tough the schedule was to start.  It's a chance for us to do that tonight."

What to Expect from the Islanders

Per THN's Stefen Rosner, here's how the Isles took the ice for their morning skate:

Of note, New York starts its ace in net, Ilya Sorokin.  He's only played twice to date this season, but he's been in incredibly stingy form with a .953 save percentage and 1.48 goals against average in the early going.

Meanwhile, Anthony Duclair—whom the Islanders signed this summer to bolster their forward depth and firepower—is unfortunately out injured after a hot start in his new home.  Duclair had three points (including two goals) in his first five games as an Islander, but now he's sidelined with what's been described as a "long-term" injury.

As far as what to expect from the Islanders skaters who will be lacing them up this evening, it's worth noting that Patrick Roy's team is not just a facsimile of the defense-first Barry Trotz teams that challenged the Tampa Bay Lightning for Eastern Conference supremacy.  Instead, as Lalonde pointed out this evening, "analytically, they're a top team on the rush, which is impressive, and I think that has a lot to do with a couple of their active D."  Lalonde named Noah Dobson as one such D-man, characterizing the 24-year-old as among the best offensive defenseman in the NHL.

For the Red Wings, that means a priority tonight will be defending the rush.  It's something Detroit did well in its wins over Nashville, but it was a clear sore spot in some of the early season defeats, particularly the opener against Pittsburgh and home rout to the Rangers.  Success in that area of the game could go a long way in determining the Red Wings' fate tonight.

Where to Watch

Tonight's game will be the first Red Wings television broadcast on the new FanDuel Sports Network Detroit.  It will also be part of the NHL's second "Frozen Frenzy" with all 32 teams in action and some unusual start times as a result.  The Red Wings and Islanders will get together at 7:45.  As far as the FanDuel of it all, the good news about the change is that it should have no impact on Bally Sports subscribers, who will still be able to find the game wherever they did previously (i.e. on TV or streaming), with the same commentators, reporters, and hosts, just with a new name and color scheme framing it all.

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