Coming off of a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers last night, the Arizona Coyotes (1-1) will make a quick turnaround as they complete the second-half of a back-to-back against the New York Islanders (1-0) tonight at UBS Arena at 4:30 p.m. MST.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!For the Coyotes, this will be the last game of three on the East Coast before they head to St. Louis to play the Blues on Oct. 19.
As for the Islanders, they have had two days of rest since their season-opening, 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres last Saturday.
Here is all you need to know before the Coyotes take-on the Islanders tonight:
Pregame Notes
After getting basically shutdown by Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin last night, it doesn’t get any easier tonight for Arizona as the Islanders possess arguably the best Russian in that position, Ilya Sorokin.
With the game against Buffalo, Sorokin stopped 26 out of 28 shots.
In his career Sorokin’s save percentage in four seasons is a staggering .924 and his goals goals-against-average is 2.34.
Even with those stats that indicate he is a top-3 goalie in the league, Sorokin’s overall record is 71-46-18 in 137 games.
The problem with the Islanders is that they don’t score a lot of goals and they mostly end up either squeaking away with a win thanks to Sorokin or lose.
Last season, New York snuck into the playoffs and lost in a six-game series to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2.
As they made the postseason, they finished 21st in the NHL in goals scored in 2022-23 with 242.
With the players in front of Sorokin, Brock Nelson and Noah Dobson have been the other standouts and will both look to lead the line against the Coyotes.
As New York’s point-leader last season, Nelson had 36 goals and 39 assists for 75 points in 82 games.
On the backend, the Islanders have an emerging star on defense with Dobson.
Dobson had 49 points in 78 games as a d-man and has consistently been getting around 19+ minutes of time-on-ice each competition.
As for the Coyotes, forwards Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz are all tied for the team lead with 3 points each in two games.
Because of Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram playing in the loss to the Rangers yesterday, Karel Vejmelka should start in-goal for the ‘Yotes.
In the season series last year, Arizona were 2-0 against New York.
At UBS Arena, the Coyotes won 2-0 on Nov. 10, 2022 and Keller had two goals in a 5-4 victory at Mullett Arena in Tempe on Dec. 16, 2022.
Watchability/ Way to Listen
At 4:30 p.m., Arizona and the Islanders will play at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.
To listen, ESPN 620 AM will have the play-by-play coverage of the game on the radio.
As for watching the game on a television with cable, an antenna or streaming, click on this link to find out the new details on where the game will be broadcasted since there are changes for tonight.
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Alec Cipollini is a journalist covering the Arizona Coyotes, Cardinals and Phoenix Rising for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account @AlecCipollini
