• Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his 12th goal of the season on Saturday to become just one of three NHL defensemen to score 12 goals or more in each of the past six seasons. San Jose's Brent Burns and Nashville's Roman Josi are the others.
• Nick Cousins is averaging a point per game vs. the Islanders over nine career games, and has scored four of his 30 NHL goals vs. New York.
• Michael Grabner played 297 games for the Islanders from 2010-15 and scored 90 goals for New York during that time, including 47 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the site of today's game.
• Arizona has scored the first goal of the game 43 times this season, which is tied for the second-most times in the NHL with Tampa Bay and San Jose. Pittsburgh has taken a 1-0 lead 44 times. Arizona has posted a 27-12-4 record in the 43 games it led 1-0.
• The Coyotes are 0-5-0 in their past five road games vs. the Islanders. They last defeated the Isles in New York on Dec. 18, 2010.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS:
• New York, which defeated Philadelphia, 4-2, on Saturday, is one point behind first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division standings with seven games left for both teams ... The Islanders are 10-1-1 in the second game of back-to-back games this season ... New York has allowed just 179 goals, the fewest of any NHL team ... The Islanders are 10-6-2 in games played at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum this season ... Anders Lee leads the Isles with 27 goals and has scored four goals in his past seven games ... Mathew Barzal ranks first on the team in assists (42) and points (59) ... Matt Martin has 251 hits, the fifth most in the League ... Thomas Greiss, who did not play on Saturday vs. Philadelphia, is expected to start in goal. He ranks third among NHL goalies who have played at least 40 games in goals-against average (2.29) and save percentage (.926).
