Islanders Bring Their Overtime Habit to a Kings Barn Starved for Wins
Los Angeles has won just twice at home all season, while New York keeps taking games past regulation without finishing them.
Written before the game
Two teams that have spent the last few weeks giving up more than they create meet in Los Angeles, and the standings make it feel bigger for the home side.
The Kings sit 14th in the West at 5-9-2 with a minus 10 goal difference, and they've dropped two straight. Home has been the real problem: just 2-6-0 in their own barn, against a 3-3-2 road mark. The Islanders arrive 7-6-4, 11th in the East, having lost their last two in overtime.
Over the last 10 games these clubs look nearly identical. Both have given up slightly better chances than they've created. Los Angeles has averaged 3.42 expected goals for (how many goals its chances were worth) against 3.65 allowed; New York sits at 3.32 for and 3.63 against. Shot attempts tell the same story, with both teams a hair underwater.
The difference has been finishing. The Islanders went 4-3-3 in that stretch, staying close and banking points; the Kings went 5-5-0, with nothing in between. With chances this even, the team that converts first likely decides it, and the Kings have been chasing early in recent nights.