Coyotes, fresh off a loss, visit rested Islanders

NEW YORK -- The New York Islanders hope their second game this week against a struggling team playing the tail end of a back-to-back goes better than the first.

The Islanders continue a five-game homestand Friday night when they host the Arizona Coyotes at Barclays Center. While New York (1-3-0) is playing on two days' rest following a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, the Coyotes (1-2-0) will be playing a night after absorbing a 5-2 loss to the Canadiens in Montreal.

With the Islanders game in mind, Coyotes coach Dave Tippett pulled goalie Louis Domingue after he gave up four goals in the first two periods. Domingue, who is Arizona's No. 1 goalie in place of the injured Mike Smith, will start again on Friday.

"To change momentum for us and recognize we have to play tomorrow night again," Tippett said in explaining his decision. "We'll put Louie back in there tomorrow night and see if we get a better start from him."

The Coyotes, who will be playing the third game of a season-high, six-game road trip, have allowed 12 goals in losing their past two games and 15 goals in three games overall. Arizona is one of nine NHL teams to give up at least 15 goals thus far but the only one that has played fewer than four games.

"There's areas of our game that still have to (be cleaned) up," Tippett said. "Some of the execution is not what it needs to be. For us, we need all the parts to work for us to be real competitive."

The Coyotes will be the second consecutive reeling Pacific Division team to head into Barclays Center. The Islanders' loss to the Sharks came a night after San Jose absorbed a 7-4 loss to the New York Rangers.

New York looked like the flatter team Tuesday, when it had just four shots in the first period and six shots in the third period.

"It's a 60-minute game, there's a surge both ways, but at the end of the day, you've got to be consistent putting pucks on net," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "Because when you put pucks on net, you're going to retrieve those pucks and you're going to get extended zone time."

The Islanders have scored just nine goals this season, the second fewest among teams that have played more than three games.

"We've played a lot of games here at the start, obviously, not the results we've wanted for the most part," Islanders center and captain John Tavares said. "We've just got to get off to a little better start on Friday."

Islanders No. 1 goalie Jaroslav Halak is likely to draw the start against Domingue. If they square off, it will be a rematch of the last time the Islanders faced the Coyotes on Dec. 19, when Domingue earned his first career shutout by stopping all 25 shots he faced in Arizona's 1-0 victory at Gila River Arena.

The shutout came in Domingue's only career appearance against the Islanders. Halak is 6-3-1 with a 1.91 goals against average in 10 career appearances against the Coyotes.