Islanders  2    Lightning  5

New York Islanders (23-25-8) at Tampa Bay Lightning (23-21-11), 7:30 p.m.

Sports Network | February 4, 2010

(Sports Network) - The New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning were the two worst teams in the NHL last season, but both find themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race heading into tonight's clash from the St. Pete Times Forum.

Tampa Bay enters this evening's tilt tied with in-state rival Florida and the New York Rangers for the eighth and final postseason seed in the East with 57 points, just nine fewer than the Lightning accumulated all of last season. The Islanders, who mustered a league-worst 61 points in 2008-09, are just three back of Tampa in the conference standings.

The Lightning have been the better of the two clubs as of late, however. Tampa Bay has won four of its last six outings and stopped a brief two-game slide with Tuesday's 2-1 road decision over fellow Southeast Division member Atlanta.

The Islanders, on the other hand, have dropped five in a row and are in danger of matching their longest losing streak of the season, when the young squad went 0-3-3 to start the 2009-10 campaign.

New York hasn't been able to gain a point during its present skid and has produced a meager six goals over those five games. In their most recent trip to the ice, the Isles were shut out by Florida's Tomas Vokoun in a 2-0 loss to the Panthers on Sunday.

Vokoun made 33 stops on the afternoon, 13 of which came in the third period, and Florida killed off four New York power-play chances over the course of the game.

"There's no time to pout," said Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro, who turned back 23-of-25 shots in a losing cause. "It's about getting back on track and winning as many games as you can going into the stretch."

New York has lost the first three tests of a four-game trek that concludes tonight and is a poor 9-15-6 on the road this season. One of those defeats came to the Lightning in Tampa on December 5, with Bolts goaltender Mike Smith recording 30 saves to lead his team to a 4-0 triumph.

Tampa Bay also dealt the Islanders a 4-2 loss on Long Island on December 21 and has beaten tonight's foe in three of the last four encounters as the home team.

Antero Niittymaki was between the pipes for the Lightning in Tuesday's win over the Thrashers and thwarted 26-of-27 chances on the evening. Stephane Veilleux and Martin St. Louis gave their goaltender an early advantage with first-period goals as Tampa Bay moved ahead of Atlanta in the competitive conference race.

"We are in playoff mode right now," said St. Louis. "This was an important win. For us to get the win in regulation was big -- we didn't give them a point and we move one step closer."

Steven Stamkos assisted on St. Louis' goal and has compiled 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists) during a seven-game scoring streak.

In injury news, Islanders forward Josh Bailey is expected to be sidelined for two weeks after exiting Sunday's loss with an upper-body problem. The second- year pro has 13 goals and 14 assists in 55 games this season.