The New York Islanders (4-3-1) enter Tuesday night against the Boston Bruins (4-7-0) riding a five-game point streak after seeing their four-game win streak snapped in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Here are three keys to getting back into the win column and keeping that point streak alive against the statistically worst team in the Eastern Conference.
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1. Taking Advantage Of The Schedule: The Islanders will be getting a Bruins team on the second of a back-to-back after they fell 7-2 to the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. The Islanders jumped on the Detroit Red Wings last Thursday after Todd McLellan’s team had come off a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, scoring first en route to a 7-2 win. The Bruins haven’t won a game when trailing after the first period (0-3-0), but haven’t lost (3-0-0) when leading after two periods, so Long Island must jump on them.
2. Sorokin Out-Goalying The Opposition: Starting netminder Ilya Sorokin (2-3-1, 3.70 GAA, .875 SV%) has looked better as of late, but still seems to be getting out-goalied too often. He’s been outplayed by Tristan Jarry, Logan Thompson, Eric Comrie, and Sam Ersson in his four losses this season, outplaying Jaroslav Askarov and Linus Ullmark in his two wins. Despite stealing the game against Ottawa and arguably a point against Philadelphia, Sorokin has allowed three or more goals in each start this season. Boston starter Joonas Korpisalo (1-3-0) has seriously struggled, with a 4.03 GAA and an .845 SV%, so this would be a good game for Sorokin to be the better of the two.
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3. Winning The Special Teams Battle: The Islanders’ power play has looked more dangerous this season, but has struggled to finish. They sit at 18.5% on the power play and have scored just two power-play goals over their last four games, both coming in the 4-3 win over San Jose. Boston’s penalty kill is 16th in the NHL at 79.6%. On the flip side, the Islanders’ penalty has looked good, but last-second power-play goals against have them at just 74.1% this season, allowing a power-play goal in each of the last two games, and in six of eight games this season.