Islanders Return to Anaheim With a Score to Settle Twice Over
The Ducks win more often on the road than at home, and New York already took the first meeting by a goal.
Written before the game
Neither of these clubs has been winning the chance battle, and that makes this a goaltending-and-finishing game more than a puck-control one.
Over their last 10 games, the Ducks have created slightly fewer good chances than they've allowed: 3.52 expected goals for (how many goals their chances were worth) against 3.63 against. The Islanders have the same problem, a bit worse: 3.26 for, 3.47 against. Both have been giving up more shot attempts than they generate, and New York's gap is the wider one, allowing about 63 attempts a game while taking about 56.
Anaheim has turned that into six wins in those 10 games; New York has four. The Ducks are 10-8-1, third in the Pacific and eighth in the West. The Islanders are 8-6-4, holding the East's fourth wild-card spot, with points in each of their last three games and a win last time out.
The oddity is where Anaheim wins: 7-3-0 on the road, just 3-5-1 at home. The Islanders took the earlier meeting 3-2, and Ilya Sorokin made 26 saves in their most recent win. Leo Carlsson, Jackson LaCombe and a returning Troy Terry lead the Ducks' push to even the season series.
