Preview: Isles @ Lightning, 2.4.10 St. Pete Times Forum

With the weight of a five-game losing streak on their shoulders, the Islanders march into Tampa tonight to take on the Lightning, a team that has surged into the top eight in the conference to everyone's surprise. On top of that, they've already won the first two meetings between the two teams, 4-0 at home and 4-2 at the Coliseum.

But the Isles should be feeling some sort of desperation to get back on track. After all, they're slipping quickly out of playoff contention, and they've got a team right behind them- the Leafs-that has made some drastic moves to get better. If this isn't the fire under their butts that they need, then nothing is. Plus, they've had three days to rest between Sunday evening and today, giving everyone some time to regroup and figure out what needs to be changed.

However, it'll be a tall order. The Lightning have all of their studs raring to go, including Vincent Lecavalier (13 points in 11 games), Martin St. Louis (18 points in 17 games, including goals in four straight) and Steven Stamkos (seven-game points streak). Also, Antero Niittymaki has been stellar- 5-1-1 in his last seven, and 13-9-5 overall this season. With John Tavares stalling, Josh Bailey out of the lineup (sent home with an upper-body injury), and everyone else trying to get their acts together, the Islanders will need to really bring their A game tonight to have a chance at beating this red-hot team. And above all, their goaltending and overall defense needs to be better. We'll likely see some changes in the line combinations with Bailey's absence, and perhaps Blake Comeau will be put back into the lineup tonight.

With all of that said...

LET'S GO ISLANDERS!

P.S. No word yet on Brendan Witt going elsewhere. My guess is he'll be a Bridgeport Sound Tiger by the end of the day.