Preview: Back on the road as the Bruins face the Islanders

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7:30 PM

Where: UBS Arena – Elmont, NY

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Know your enemy

• 25-20-14, 64PTS, 5th in the Atlantic Division
• Mathew Barzal: 18G-45A-63PTS; Noah Dobson: 7G-54A-61PTS; Bo Horvat: 27G-23A-50PTS
• Ilya Sorokin: 19-13-11, 3.11 GAA, .909 save percentage

Game notes

• After a brief stop at home, the Bruins are back on the road to visit the New York Metropolitan Area and play Patrick Roy (?!) and the New York Islanders.
• This will be the first of back-to-back road games for the B’s, who will visit Toronto on Monday night. They’ll then host Edmonton on Tuesday and the Leafs on Thursday, so…buckle up!
• These two teams have played twice already this season, both Bruins wins. The B’s won 5-2 on home ice back in November, then beat the Isles in Elmont back in mid-December. That game ended 5-4 in a shootout, featuring a shootout goal by David Pastrnak on that exact same move that many of you hate so much.
• The Islanders have won two games in a row, beating the Dallas Stars and the surging Detroit Red Wings (both on the road) last week. Those wins have kept the Islanders in the mix for a playoff spot. The Isles are six points behind Tampa for the second wild card spot, but Tampa has played three more games.
• Seeing Mathew Barzal atop the Isles’ scoring chart is no surprise, but defenseman Noah Dobson is having a career year to slot in at number two. Dobson’s 54 assists alone best his previous career high in points (51 in 80 games two seasons ago). He’s been a better-than-PPG player for the Islanders.
• Former Bruin Mike Reilly has played 38 games for the Islanders this season, putting up a 4G-10A-14PTS stat line.
• Ilya Sorokin remains a very good goalie, in spite of some less-than-stellar top-level numbers on the season. We should get a pretty decent goaltending match-up.
• The Bruins recalled forward Marc McLaughlin from Providence on Friday. It was an emergency recall, meaning McLaughlin will only slot in if an injured player is unable to go.