New York Islanders (21-15-2) vs. Vancouver Canucks (16-17-3)
The 2022-23 NHL season continues Tuesday, January 3, with the New York Islanders taking on the Vancouver Canucks in the cross-conference showdown at Rodgers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the puck drop is set for 10:00 PM ET.
New York and Vancouver lock horns for the first time this season. The Islanders open as slight road favorites, while the totals are listed at 6.0 goals.
The New York Islanders started a four-game road trip this past Sunday, suffering a 4-1 defeat at the Seattle Kraken. They stopped a three-game winning streak and recorded their third consecutive loss away from home. Mathew Barzal scored his ninth goal of the season to tie the game late in the first period, but the Islanders couldn’t cope with the Kraken for the rest of the way. Seattle outshot New York 35-19 and converted one of its two power-play opportunities.
“You can’t play the speed you want if you don’t execute cleanly,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “Give them credit – they filled good gaps all night, but we certainly didn’t execute the way we wanted to. When we did have the puck in the neutral zone, we turned it over instead of getting it in deep and establishing our forecheck.”
#Isles Transaction: Cory Schneider has been returned on loan to Bridgeport. Semyon Varlamov has been activated off the team's IR list.
— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) January 2, 2023
Ilya Sorokin posted 31 saves in Seattle. He’s guarded the cage in six straight games, and the 27-year-old netminder is now 13-12-1 with a 2.30 GAA, .926 save percentage, and three shutouts in 2022-23. Semyon Varlamov has recovered from a lower-body injury and could get the starting call Tuesday in Vancouver. Varlamov is 8-3-1 with a 2.65 GAA, .919 save percentage, and a shutout this season.
The Islanders allow just 2.68 goals per game (tied-6th in the NHL) while scoring 3.16 in return (17th). They are only 21-for-114 with the man advantage (27th). At least, the Is landers own the tenth-best penalty-killing percentage in the league (81.6%).