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Anaheim Ducks at New York Islanders

Tue Oct 207:00 PM ETESPN+Elmont, NY
By JR·2 min read
Ducks(4-3-0)
Islanders(4-3-1)
Tuesday 10/207:00 PM

TLDR: Anaheim opened the season by winning 3 road games, something the franchise had never done before, and has looked a lot worse since getting home. Tuesday's stop at UBS Arena is the second half of a New York back-to-back, against an Islanders team whose goalie and top center have carried them through October.

TUE 10/20, 7:00 PMESPN+
Ducks
(4-3-0)
LLWWL
Islanders
(4-3-1)
WLWLW

Anaheim arrives on the second night of a back-to-back after Monday's game against the Rangers, a team that won its first 3 road games and then dropped all 3 home games while scoring 2 each time. The Islanders have Ilya Sorokin playing at a career level and Bo Horvat scoring at a goal-per-game pace and healthy again after a concussion scare. The Ducks are also thin at center without Ryan Poehling and with Mikael Granlund day-to-day. The game probably comes down to whether a tired Anaheim attack can score on Sorokin.

Anaheim Ducks
  • Won first 3 road games, a franchise first
  • Scored 9 combined at Winnipeg and Calgary
  • Second night of back-to-back after Rangers
  • Poehling out 6-8 weeks, Granlund day-to-day
  • Held to 2 goals in each of 3 home losses
New York Islanders
  • Sorokin: 28 saves on 29 shots at Toronto
  • Horvat 3 power-play goals in first 4 games
  • Fresh legs against a back-to-back opponent
  • Outshot 29-20 by a shorthanded Leafs team
  • Horvat coming off concussion-protocol scare

The schedule is the first story here. The Ducks play the Rangers at the Garden on Monday and then cross over to Elmont for a 7:00 PM ET puck drop Tuesday, so Joel Quenneville goes into this one with legs that played the night before and probably some thinking to do about his goalie. Whatever happens at MSG will change the form picture before the puck drops on Long Island. A win stops the skid, a loss makes it 3, and either way the Islanders get the more rested team.

As of now the Ducks look like 2 different teams. On the road they beat Winnipeg 5-1 and Calgary 4-2, which finished a historic 3-0 road start. At Honda Center they lost to Edmonton 5-2, to Calgary 4-2 and to Boston 4-2, and scored 2 goals in each of those games. They've lost 2 straight as of Saturday. The roster is thin up the middle too: Ryan Poehling is out 6-8 weeks with an MCL sprain, Mikael Granlund is day-to-day, and Troy Terry is still on long-term injured reserve with a hip injury.

The Islanders' case starts in net. Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves on 29 shots in a 4-1 win at Toronto, after the Leafs had outshot New York 29-20. That came early in a season where he already stopped 37 in a shutout of New Jersey and ran a career-long shutout streak of 165:31. If the Ducks' road scoring shows up tired on the second night, Sorokin is the last goalie they'd want to see.

Anaheim Ducks
(4-3-0)
10/17LvsBruins2-4
10/14LvsFlames2-4
10/11W@Flames4-2
10/10W@Jets5-1
10/08LvsOilers2-5
New York Islanders
(4-3-1)
10/17W@Maple Leafs4-1
10/15L@Senators1-2
10/13WvsCanucks3-2
10/10LvsLightning3-5
10/08WvsBlackhawks4-1

Bo Horvat is the other half of it. He had 4 goals in the first 4 games, 3 of them on the power play, then took a hit to the head from Frank Nazar against Chicago that sent him into concussion protocol. He was back at center for Toronto and scored the winner, so the scare looks to be over. Anthony Duclair scored in that game as well, and Pete DeBoer's team had outscored opponents 10-1 at UBS Arena through its first home dates. Toronto had beaten them 2-1 in the opener before New York evened that season series.

For Anaheim to win, the road version has to show up on zero rest: the team that scored 9 goals across Winnipeg and Calgary, playing a cleaner game than it has at home. For the Islanders, it's about pressing the depth problem. With Poehling out and Granlund uncertain, the Ducks' middle-six centers will be getting minutes they'd normally lose to better players, and the Islanders' power play has Horvat to go after any penalties that leads to. Monday's game at MSG will show which version of Anaheim gets on the bus.

Anaheim Ducks at New York Islanders — Ducks Hit Elmont on a Back-to-Back to Face Sorokin's Islanders | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush