Slapshot Game Preview: New York Islanders vs. Anaheim Ducks

Slapshot Preview is designed to highlight three important elements of the Isles' next game in a quick-hitting fashion.

New York Islanders at Anaheim Ducks

11/14/26

10 p.m. Eastern

SHOT #1: It Has Happened Before

The New York Islanders are coming off a victory over the Los Angeles Kings, snapping a four-game winless streak.

The California trip continues as the Isles head to Anaheim to play the Ducks, looking to string together two wins.

Perhaps the incomparable Lou Brown, in the movie Major League, put it best when describing a winning streak:

"All right, you guys, let's listen up. We won a game [Thursday]. And if we win one today, that's two in a row.”

Ol’ Lou went on to describe what happens if his team were to win the next game, thus establishing a winning streak. He put it very succinctly:

“[It’s] called a winning streak. It has happened before.”

Now, the appropriateness of Lou Brown’s quote to the Islanders' situation depends on whether or not two wins in a row would count as a streak. Say it does—if the Isles want to start a winning streak of their own, perhaps their last game against the Ducks would be a good place to start.

Let's take a closer look.

SHOT #2: Rinse and Repeat?

On October 20th, the Isles beat the Ducks 3-2.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the Isles' victory was propelled by a three-goal first period. They didn’t add any additional goals the rest of the game, and Anaheim put one in the net in the third period, but the start was enough for the Isles to hold on for the win.

The interesting part is that the Isles outshot the Ducks 25-17, the opposite of the shot disparity that plagues the Islanders during their four-game winless streak.

The not-surprising part is because, so far, the Islanders are best served by scoring first. They’re 7-0-3 when scoring first. It seems that putting the puck in the net first is a good place to start if they want to get a winning streak going.

Still, the Anaheim Ducks team the Islanders saw in their last meeting is a different team than it is now.

In their October clash, the Ducks ended the game with the Isles with a record of 4-5-0. At the time of writing, the Ducks sit at 10-8-1. In their last ten, Anaheim is 6-3-1.

SHOT #3: Welcome Back

In their victory over Los Angeles, the Islanders welcomed both Matias Maccelli and Ryan Pulock back. And both responded.

Maccelli contributed an assist, and Pulock had two helpers of his own.

Speaking on the return of Maccelli and Pulock, coach Pete DeBoer had the following to say, per Tyler Brosious:

“We put two good players back in the lineup, which helps, our goalie was great again, and we cleaned up the things that we didn't like about last game,” Islanders coach Pete DeBoer said.

Cleaning things up clearly helped, and it was nice to see Ilya Sorokin get that support.

Speaking of which, Ryan Pulock’s comments after the game were important to that topic:

“You want to help chip in. Doing a good job defensively is my first priority,” and once again, per Tyler Brosious, Pulock went on to say:

“Especially when you're sitting out a little while, it's nice to come back and get involved a little bit.”

It’s important that the spark that Pulock and Maccelli coming back provided wasn’t a one-time boost. The Isles are closer to getting healthy, with NHL insiders reporting a possible Mat Barzal return within the next week.

This is especially the case when you consider JG Pageau missed the game with the Kings with a lower-body injury.

The health of a team is a fluid situation in a long NHL season. It’s important for the Islanders to continue working on the little things and begin to sustain the style of hockey they want to play. And it can all start with a win against the Ducks.

Assuming two wins in a row counts as a streak—as Lou Brown said, it has happened before.

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