Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Divisional Round
The New York Islanders face the Toronto Maple Leafs with both teams heading in opposite directions halfway through the season. The Islanders have a 23-20-5 record and with only two wins in their last 10 games, they have fallen to the bottom of the Metropolitan Division. The Maple Leafs have a 28-11-8 record and are in second place in the Atlantic Division. Both teams look to improve in the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game looks to be a great one as a result.
The Islanders are watching their season fall apart with their offense struggling, scoring only 2.94 goals per game with only eight goals in the last four games. Brock Nelson, Anders Lee, and Mathew Barzal have scored 43 goals and 70 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has struggled. The hope is that Josh Bailey and Anthony Beauvillier can step up as they play a pivotal role in the forward unit but only have 15 goals and 23 assists this season.
The offense has struggled but the defense has stepped up, allowing only 2.77 goals per game. Ryan Pulock and Alexander Romanov have combined for5 5.3 defensive point shares and 171 blocked shots while Scott Mayfield, Noah Dobson, and Sebastian Aho have combined for 8.0 defensive point shares to add depth to the unit. In addition, goaltender Ilya Sorokin has stepped up in the net with a .924 save percentage and a 2.37 goals-agains t average on 1062 shots.