The New York Islanders returned to UBS Arena on Tuesday night with Ilya Sorokin in the starter’s net for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Anaheim Ducks. New York entered at 4-3-1, while Anaheim came in at 4-4-0.
That was the shape of the night before the puck even dropped: one team trying to extend a steady run, the other trying to stop its slide. The Islanders had picked up at least one point in three straight games and in four of their last five, including a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 17 when Simon Holmström scored twice and Bo Horvat added a goal and an assist.
Tuesday also carried the first hard test of the week for New York’s lineup. Matias Maccelli and Cal Ritchie were unavailable after lower-body injuries against Toronto on Saturday, and the Islanders were expected to lean on Mitchell Chaffee, recalled from Hamilton on Monday, with Kyle MacLean on the fourth line beside Casey Cizikas. Kyle Palmieri moved back to the top line with Holmström and Horvat, a shuffle that left the roster thinner down the middle and on the wing than it had been at the start of the week.
Sorokin’s presence at the optional morning skate pointed toward the expected answer in goal, but it was still the kind of detail that mattered because it was the only one that could change before warmups. The Ducks arrived after a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday, having started the season 4-1-0 before dropping three straight, and they were doing it on the second night of a back-to-back.
The matchup was also the Islanders’ first meeting of the season with Anaheim and the opener of two games against Pacific Division opponents that week, with the Los Angeles Kings due at UBS Arena on Thursday. For New York, the question is no longer whether the stretch is real. It is whether the lineup can keep producing while the injuries pile up and the schedule tightens again two nights later.
