Golden Knights look to extend their win streak against the Islanders

This Thursday night there are nine matches on the slate in the NHL. The Vegas Golden Knights are going into Nassau Coliseum to take on the New York Islanders. For the first time this season the Golden Knights are riding a 4-Game win streak, while the Islanders are eagerly looking for a victory after some poor results away from home.

Golden Knights finally get their results

The expectations around the Vegas Golden Knights were sky-high prior to the season. The Pacific Division is not considered to be a very strong division and Vegas should, given the quality of the team, win the division by quite some margin. It was therefore quite surprising that Vegas is having a hard time in the first two months of the new season. They recently lost eight of their last ten games. Better results came at the right time and after four wins in a row the Golden Knights are now third place in the Pacific Division, only three points behind the Edmonton Oilers, who lead the division.

After the poor results in the last few weeks Vegas had to miss their first goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury due to personal reasons. This only increased the worries inside the team, but P.K. Subban finally proved that he is a worthy backup-goalie with good games against the Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. The last four games were won by the Golden Knights and with so many teams in their league who are playing below their level, reaching the play-offs seems to be a certainty for the third consecutive year.

Isles playing poorly at the moment

The New York Islanders earnerd their longest point streak in franchise history about two weeks ago. New York made a huge impression in recent weeks by remaining undefeated in regulation time for seventeen consecutive games. Yet it was a small miracle that the Isles managed to produce such a long point streak, because in many games they were the least dominant team on the ice. During the most recent games the team of coach Barry Trotz did pay the price and this resulted in some tough defeats.

Thanks to a 3-0 defeat in Anaheim against the Ducks, the Isles lost once again in regular time for the first time since October 11th. The 4-1 defeat against the Los Angeles Kings was also worrying. This was followed by two victories, but also here the Islanders were the team on the ice, who were chasing the puck most of the time. Last Tuesday, the men of Barry Trotz lost 4-2 against the Montreal Canadiens, who, with this victory, put an end to a series of eight lost games in a row.

Value on the Golden Knights

The New York Islanders were lucky during most of their games when they were on that incredible 17-game point streak. Clear recent defeats against low-ranking teams like the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings and a stripped-down Montreal Canadiens don't bode well. The Golden Knights won their last four games with some great hockey, tonight they will probably be the most dominant team on the ice, although this doesn't mean that they automatically win in this sport. The Islanders haven't been able to impress me for a longer stretch of time and so I see value in an away win for Vegas.