Isles vs. Stars preview: Points are needed as Kieffer Bellows makes NHL debut

The Islanders are in a desperate battle to maintain a playoff position. And they have desperately needed more scoring in their lineup all season.

Both storylines will converge as the Islanders face the Stars on Tuesday night to continue a three-game homestand at Barclays Center that opened with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Canucks on Saturday afternoon.

Kieffer Bellows, the 19th overall pick in 2016, will make his NHL debut after being called up from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport on Monday. Bellows, 21, has 16 goals and eight assists in 45 games for the Sound Tigers this season and 15 goals over his last 26 games.

“Just hopefully the consistency that he had down in Bridgeport,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said when asked what he expects from Bellows.

“Probably scoring,” Trotz added when asked how Bellows will help the Islanders. “That’s what we drafted him for.”

The Islanders have actually garnered points in their last three games, going 1-0-2, but are still in a 2-3-3 skid and have slipped to fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Blue Jackets. But the Islanders, in the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, are just one point ahead of both the Hurricanes and the Maple Leafs.

The Islanders have played two fewer games than the Hurricanes and three fewer games than both the Blue Jackets and the Maple Leafs.

The Maple Leafs are idle on Tuesday, while the Hurricanes visit the Blues and the Blue Jackets host the Panthers.

“I think you just have to take note of where you’re at and how tight it is and how crucial points are and games are,” Brock Nelson said. “But maybe try not to get caught up looking at it [the standings] all the time. You’ll probably drive yourself crazy looking at it and seeing teams. We still have some games in hand so we want to take care of business. You just need all the points you can get with how tight the Metro is.”

The Stars conclude a three-game road trip after beating the Rangers, 5-3, at Madison Square Garden on Monday night and also edging the Devils, 3-2, in overtime on Saturday.

The Islanders lost, 3-1, at Dallas on Dec. 7 as the Stars scored two power-play goals. It was coach Jim Montgomery’s final game before he was relieved of his duties because of inappropriate behavior and replaced on an interim basis by former Islanders coach Rick Bowness. The Stars are 13-7-1 under Bowness.

“I don’t think we played too bad in Dallas,” defenseman Devon Toews said. “Special teams hurt us there. They play so much similar to us. We know what can beat us. It’s just executing our plan and we think we can put a good game plan in place. Our structure is what gets us through a lot of things. So, we’ve got to be dialed in on that.”

“They’re a good defensive team,” Nelson added. “They don’t give up much. Barry said they don’t really beat themselves. We want to play a similar style. So, tight checking and probably not a lot of space.”

Trotz said the Stars play “fairly similar” under Bowness as compared to Montgomery.

“I don’t see anything glaring but I’m sure 'Bones' has a subtle touch here or there that he’s added,” Trotz said.

Bellows is likely to play on Derick Brassard’s third line along with Michael Dal Colle, who scored his third goal of the season on Saturday.

“I know if I go out there and I play my game, good things will come,” Bellows said.

Jordan Eberle has five of his eight goals this season over his last nine games for the Islanders. Tyler Seguin has 11 goals and 28 assists for the Stars but has gone 13 games without a goal.

Here are the projected lineups:

Islanders (29-15-6)

Anders Lee-Mathew Barzal-Jordan Eberle

Anthony Beauvillier-Brock Nelson-Josh Bailey

Kieffer Bellows-Derick Brassard-Michael Dal Colle

Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Leo Komarov

Nick Leddy-Ryan Pulock

Devon Toews-Scott Mayfield

Noah Dobson-Johnny Boychuk

Semyon Varlamov (15-8-4, 2.59 goals-against average, .915 save percentage)

Stars (30-18-4)

Jamie Benn-Roope Hintz-Tyler Seguin

Mattias Janmark-Joe Pavelski-Alexander Radulov

Andrew Cogliano-Radek Faksa-Blake Comeau

Denis Gurianov-Jason Dickinson-Corey Perry

Esa Lindell-John Klingberg

Jamie Oleksiak-Miro Heiskanen

Andrej Sekera-Stephen Johns

Ben Bishop (18-11-3, 2.31, .925)

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.