New York Islanders at Florida Panthers [Game #2]

The Islanders are in a suburb of Miami — where the host team or suburb still seeks a new corporate teat — to hopefully rebound from their season-opening loss in Raleigh.

This is game #2 of the 13-game road trip (or series of trips) to open the season. The Panthers previously beat the Penguins, which is God’s work, so hopefully they rest on that achievement and let the Islanders find their game.

To find their game, the Isles appear to have made one lineup change: Leo Komarov in for a “spark” with Ross Johnston the innocent lineup victim.

We expect Ilya Sorokin to be in net again tonight (and every night until he breaks or Semyon Varlamov returns).

I was really excited about seeing the Panthers heading into the playoffs last season before Aaron Ekblad was lost to injury. He’s back, and healthy now...and former Islanders property Carter Verhaeghe — the only useful piece from the Michael Grabner trade — is also a guy who can do good things for them.

That’s to say nothing of their Beasts of Barkov and Huberdeau.

Essentially, the Panthers are a team I’d generally pull for, except tonight. Thankfully they plan to have Sergei Bobrovsky in net.