Playing the second contest of their current back-to-back stretch, the New York Islanders (5th in Metropolitan Division) will try to recover from a two-game losing slide while paying a visit to the Anaheim Ducks (7th in Pacific), who are 5-1-3 in their last nine contests.
The current losing slide of the New York Islanders (34-27-8) expanded to two games (0-2-0) after the team started its three-date California road trip with a 5-2 defeat to the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena last night. Pierre Engvall (14 goals, 23 points this year) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (11 goals, 30 points) both scored for the Isles, who took a 1-0 lead in opening period, but conceded four consecutive snipes, including two power-play markers, in the following frame, unable to fully recover from that after. New York had gone 4-0-1 prior to its current skid and remains in the 2nd Wild Card spot of the Eastern Conference, albeit just three points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who still have two games in hand.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin (23-19-6 on the season with a 2.38 GAA and a .925 save percentage) stopped 32 shots yesterday, bu t will give way in New York’s crease to Semyon Varlamov ahead of tonight’s trip to Anaheim. Varlamov, who has posted an 11-8-2 tally for the ongoing campaign with a 2.79 GAA and a .910 save percentage, is 4-6-3 against the Ducks historically with a 3.08 GAA and a .904 save percentage. The Islanders, meanwhile, are sitting 9th in least goals scored per game this year (2.87), 7th in least goals conceded on average (2.71), 4th from the bottom in power play (16.5%) and 8th in penalty kill (82.2%).
No House Advantage: Bet on player over/unders VS THE HOUSE to 21x your bet OR play in PICK 'EM contests against other people! Click here to get a 1st deposit match up to $100 1st w/ promocode WandW!