Preseason: Islanders vs. Flyers, Anders Lee returns
“Sit down, we need to have a talk...” | Photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images
For their second game in Bridgeport, Anders Lee will test the knee. The New York Islanders announced their lineup for their second preseason meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers and their second game in Bridgeport, which will be available for streaming via the Islanders official site.
Anders Lee Returns, First Line* Debuts
The big “what to watch” will be two-fold:
How Anders Lee looks, making his preseason debut after missing the end of last season and playoffs due to knee surgery...
...and how his line looks, since we’ll see Lee at his old spot next to Mathew Barzal, but with a new winger, Kyle Palmieri in Jordan Eberle’s spot.
Palmieri mixed really well with Barzal during the playoffs whenever he was given the opportunity — in moments when Leo Komarov wasn’t there instead — but Palmieri’s to-the-net game is in some ways similar to Lee. Certainly neither Palmieri nor Lee is a dynamic puck carrier the way Eberle is.
But both are really smart players with decent hands, and each could conceivably play well off Barzal, who can do enough puck carrying on his own to fee many men.
*Sorry, we know Barry doesn’t recognize numbers for lines.
Zdeno and Noah
A secondary thing to watch will be the pairing of newcomer/returnee/ancient warhorse Zdeno Chara with Noah Dobson. That pairing is pretty much set in stone unless it or Greene-Mayfield become a disaster, but it will still be fun to see how they sync (or don’t).
The full expected lineup can be found here, where a link to the stream should also be updated (as well as on the Isles Facebook and Twitter accounts)....
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