The New York Islanders will try to match a season-high winning streak with a third straight triumph when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks for tonight's battle at the United Center.
The Islanders are coming off recent road wins over New Jersey and Buffalo, marking just the second time this season that New York has won consecutive games. The other time came with three straight home wins over Minnesota, Tampa Bay and the Rangers from Oct. 10-15.
New York had lost four straight before beating the Devils, 3-2, on Saturday for its first road win of the season. The Isles backed up that performance with Tuesday's 2-1 victory in Buffalo. The triumph over the Sabres was just the fourth win in the past 18 games (4-10-4) for the Islanders, who are last in the Eastern Conference with 18 points.
Matt Moulson and Brian Rolston both scored a goal to lead the Islanders to Tuesday's victory and Al Montoya stopped 30 shots. The win came in the second test of a four-game road trip and improved New York's away record to 2-5-2.
Montoya has started the past three games for New York, but Rick DiPietro could see action in either tonight's test or Saturday's tilt in Dallas. DiPietro is just 2-2-3 with a 3.44 goals-against average this season, while Montoya is 4-3-1 with a 2.06 GAA.
The Blackhawks will try to rebound tonight after getting slammed 4-1 by the visiting Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday. It was Chicago's first game at home after the club went 3-3-0 during a six-game road trip. The setback dropped Joel Quenneville's club to 7-2-2 in the Windy City this season.
"I think sometimes you come back home and you want to put on too much of a show for the fans," said Blackhawks Patrick Kane after the loss.
The Blackhawks' only goal in the contest came with 43 seconds left in regulation after Patrick Sharp buried a centering pass from Kane.
Corey Crawford stopped 17-of-21 shots and Ray Emery made three saves in relief for the Blackhawks.
"They played a perfect checking game and frustrated us," said Quenneville. "It wasn't pretty."
The Blackhawks, who will visit St. Louis on Saturday, have won 11 of their last 15 home meetings against the Islanders. New York is just 3-11-0 with a tie over that span.
The Islanders had won six straight overall in the series before Chicago notched a 5-0 home win in the only encounter between the clubs last year.
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