Rookies prepare for game on Monday

With just a couple hours of practice and video work over the weekend, the Islanders' 23 rookies will get their first game action on Monday night against the Bruins' rookies.

The forward lines should look something like this:

Tyler McNeely-Ryan Strome-Nino Niederreiter

Justin DiBenedetto-David Ullstrom-Rhett Rakhshani

John Persson-Casey Cizikas-Kirill Kabanov

Brett Gallant-Mitchell Theoret-Tony Romano

There are eight defensemen here, so not sure whether all eight will dress. Here were the pairings for the weekend's practices:

Mark Katic-Calvin de Haan

Matt Donovan-Aaron Ness

Benn Olson-Brendan Kichton

Andrei Pedan-Art Bidlevskii

As far as goaltenders, Jack Capuano said the staff may be leaning towards giving goaltenders a full 60 minutes rather than splitting. That means one from Kevin Poulin, Anders Nilsson and Mikko Koskinen would get no game time.

Tough situation, but the Islanders have three real prospects here this week and three NHL veterans coming on Saturday. Poulin has no restrictions after his February knee surgery, so expect him to get one of the games on Monday and Tuesday.