Islanders at Canucks
The ability to stay out of a slump is the key ingredient in the revival of the New York Islanders, who are nearing the end of a franchise-high nine-game road trip with a visit to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. The Islanders are 4-2-1 on the lengthy trek and hold a one-point edge over Toronto for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
New York has not gone back-to-back games without earning a point since Dec. 13-15, winning at Edmonton for the first time in nearly 14 years Tuesday to improve to 9-0-2 following a regulation loss. Andrew Ladd, who got off to a slow start this season and did not score his first goal until a 4-2 victory over Vancouver on Nov. 7, notched his sixth tally in the last 10 games on Tuesday. The Canucks are coming off a hard-luck 2-1 overtime loss to Montreal in the opener of a five-game homestand -- their fifth setback in seven contests -- and sit seven points out of the second wild card. "It would have been huge for us in the standings," forward Michael Chaput said. "Now we have to think about Thursday's game and get back to it."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (31-23-11): Anders Lee scored twice against Edmonton to reclaim the team goal-scoring lead and match his previous career high of 25, but he shared the spotlight with rookie Joshua Ho-Sang. The team's first-round draft pick in 2014, Ho-Sang registered his first goal (and point) in his fourth career game. ''It's such a relief to score and it makes you feel like you belong and things are possible and you know all your dreams are coming true in front of your eyes, which is cool."
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (28-30-8): Vancouver pulled off an impressive double-double with weekend wins at Los Angeles and Anaheim, but loss to Montreal was its fourth straight at home, dropping the club to 1-4-2 at Rogers Arena since Feb. 2. Nikolay Goldobin, acquired from San Jose at the trade deadline, played just over 10 minutes Tuesday in his third game with the team. "I just believe, if you look at where we’ve had success with players, we’ve had them earn (ice time)," coach Willie Desjardins said.
OVERTIME
1. Islanders captain John Tavares has 10 points in his last 10 games overall and nine in his last nine versus Vancouver.
2. The Canucks are 1-for-25 on the power play over the last 10 contests.
3. Islanders F Shane Prince injured his ankle versus the Oilers and sent back to New York for further evaluation on Wednesday, with coach Doug Weight telling reporters that it "doesn't look too good."