Islanders-Canucks Preview

The New York Islanders are among the best offensive teams in the NHL, but that's not the case on the road.

Roughly 16 hours after that problem was on full display, the Islanders opted to practically stand pat at the trade deadline.

Now, they'll try to bounce back from their first loss on this season-high road trip Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks.

New York (33-20-7) is eighth in the league with 2.78 goals per game, a crucial reason why it's third in the Metropolitan Division - one point ahead of Pittsburgh.

The Islanders' average of 3.23 goals at home is second only to Washington's 3.32, but duplicating that production away from Brooklyn has been a problem. New York ranks toward the bottom of the league with 2.31 per game on the road while going 14-12-3.

The offense let the Islanders down again Sunday, failing to capitalize on a 37-26 shot advantage and losing 3-1 at Edmonton. They had an 18-6 edge on shots in the third period but surrendered three goals to ruin a 3-0 start to their seven-game trip.

"You have to score more than one goal per game," coach Jack Capuano told the team's official website. "We had the game that we wanted, we were playing pretty well, then we mishandled a couple of opportunities and before you know it - they have some skill - and it's in the back of your net."

Despite the need to improve scoring on the road, the Islanders only made two minor trades at Monday's deadline. The most significant was acquiring left wing Shane Prince and a seventh-round pick from Ottawa in exchange for a third-rounder.

Prince, 23, had 12 points in 42 games for the Senators this season after leading Binghamton of the AHL with 65 in 72 in 2014-15. It's unknown if he'll make his team debut at Vancouver.

New York outshot the Canucks 48-26 on Jan. 17, but ended up falling 2-1 in a shootout. It was the fifth time the Islanders lost to them in six tries.

John Tavares has no points in the past three. The captain didn't get on the scoresheet in Edmonton after netting eight goals with 11 assists over the previous 14 games.

Kyle Okposo has one point on this trip with just 17 of his 46 coming away from home. However, he has four in his last two games at Vancouver.

The Canucks (24-25-12), eight points back of Colorado for the West's second wild-card spot, were quiet at the deadline.

Vancouver was expected to deal Dan Hamhuis and Radim Vrbata, but both enacted no-trade clauses after wanting to go to certain teams. Both are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents this summer.

"It wasn't from a lack of trying," general manager Jim Benning said. "There weren't a lot of buyers in the marketplace. The teams that were buying weren't really paying a lot to get those players."

The Canucks fell short of a third straight win, surrendering four unanswered goals in the third period of a 4-1 loss to San Jose on Sunday.

Daniel Sedin scored for just the second time in 13 games, but he's made up for the lack of scoring with eight assists over that stretch.

The left wing has 14 points in 14 career meetings with the Islanders but none in the last two at home.