The New York Islanders' three-game road trip did not get off to a strong start against the Dallas Stars.
Facing his former team, head coach Peter DeBoer saw the Islanders battle for two periods, but mistakes and miscues quickly caught up to them in a disastrous third . After entering the final period in a 3-3 tie, New York ended up losing 6-3.
Now, they head to the second stop on their road trip, paying a visit to the Nashville Predators. However, the Islanders are going to look a little bit different on the ice compared to other games this season.
For starters, Semyon Varlamov is expected to be in net for his fourth start of the season. He was last in the crease against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 22 for his first start on home ice in nearly two years. The Islanders came up just short in getting him his first win since Nov. 14, 2024, losing 3-2 in overtime.
In front of Varlamov, New York is going to have a much different look than at any point this season. According to Andrew Gross of Newsday, in a surprising turn of events, the Islanders are activating defenseman Scott Mayfield for the game.
However, he isn't taking the lineup spot of a fellow defenseman. Instead, the Islanders are keeping Matthew Kessel active and will deploy a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen against the Predators.
The major reason for the change, according to DeBoer via Gross, is that the head coach hasn't been pleased with the performance of his fourth line. He pointed to the underlying metrics, specifically expected goals for and expected goals against, as the reasoning for the change.
As a result, it is forward Kyle MacLean, who has played in the last three games following injuries to center Calum Ritchie and winger Matias Maccelli, who will be the healthy scratch tonight. MacLean averaged 9:32 of ice time per game but didn't record a point, with only one shot on goal.
It is certainly an eyebrow-raising decision to remove MacLean after he played a season-high 10:37 against Dallas, but DeBoer is looking to shake things up and find more production throughout his lineup.
That is a lot of playing time that will have to be divvied up amongst the other forwards on the team. Already shorthanded without Ritchie, Maccelli and Mathew Barzal , players are going to have to step up, with mismatched line combinations likely occurring throughout the evening.
It will be interesting to see how DeBoer handles the minutes at the blueline as well. Matthew Schaefer and Logan Stanley are likely the only players who are locked into roles as the No. 1 pairing; the rest of the even-strength minutes could go to whoever is playing at a high level against Nashville.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nhl/islanders/onsi as NY Islanders Make Unorthodox Lineup Change Ahead of Predators Game .
