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The Noon Number: There Will Be Goals

A look at how hard it is to keep a good offense down

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

30 - Number of times the Islanders were held to two or fewer goals (excluding shootout "goals") this season, fewest in the NHL. For their part, the Caps had the fourth-fewest games in which they failed to score at least three goals with 32.

The Isles went 7-20-3 during the regular season when scoring two or fewer, and the Caps posted a slightly better 9-17-6 mark. But if either of these teams can manage to prevent their opponent from scoring three times, they'll likely be in pretty good shape - New York was 33-3-1 when accomplishing that feat and Washington was 36-3-3.

Lastly, because you're curious, the Caps were 9-3-3 when neither team reached three goals and the Isles were 7-3-1. But here's betting that doesn't happen often over the next four-to-seven games... even if it did happen the last time they met.