The New York Islanders will be looking to get back in the win column after seeing their nine-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday. The Philadelphia Flyers have won the last two meetings between these teams, both in overtime.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this East Division battle at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. New York is the favorite at -125. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts the odds for Philadelphia at +105 as the underdog.
Philadelphia lost Isaac Ratcliff to a rib injury on Thursday. Anders Lee tore his ACL this week, and is done for the season for the Islanders. Noah Dobson is on Covid-19 protocols and is out indefinitely.
Flyers Down Rangers in OT
Jakub Voracek scored 3:47 into overtime to lead Philadelphia to a 4-3 victory over New York. Voracek had a huge night, finishing with a goal and two assists. Claude Giroux and Joel Farabee each had a goal and an assist. Philadelphia plays New York again on Wednesday, but this preview was written prior to the conclusion of that contest.
Philadelphia has been a very good offensive team this season. They are fifth in goals per game at 3.35.the power play has been average at 20.7%. With the three points, Voracek moves into a third-place tie on the team with 21 total points. James van Riemsdyk is the team leader in points with 29.
The Flyers are allowing 3.27 goals per game, 25th overall. The penalty killing units are struggling, posting a 70.1% success rate. Goaltending has been an issue for the Flyers all season. Carter Hart in the No. 1 goalie, but he is 7-6-3 in 16 starts with a 3.62 GAA and a .884 save percentage.
Capitals End Islanders Win Streak
The New York Islanders saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end, losing to Washington on Tuesday, 3-1. Oliver Wahlstorm had the only goal of the game for New York. Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 of 22 shots.
New York has been outstanding defensively. They are second in the NHL in goals allowed at 2.20 and third in shots allowed at 27.3 per game. The team is getting solid penalty killing at 80.8%, 13th overall. It could be either Varlamov (2.08, .926) or Ilya Sorokin (2.20, .910). Either way, the Islanders are going to get solid goaltending.
New York is averaging 2.83 goals per game and are 16th on the power play at 20.5%. Matthew Barzal leads the team in scoring with 24 points.
Trends:
Philadelphia:
- 0-4 in their last four games against teams with a winning record.
New York:
- 16-5 in their last 21 games.
- 18-6 in their last 24 games at home.
The Islanders have won four of the last five meetings between these teams in New York and the home team has won six of the last eight overall. I get that the Flyers have beaten the Islanders both times these teams have played this season, but both of those games were in Philadelphia. This has definitely been a situation where the home team dominates. Look for that here as well.
Pick: Take New York at -125.
The Total:
These teams have gone over in four of the last six meetings in New York and have gone over in 15 of the last 21 meetings over. I think that prevailing thinking would be to ignore those odds because of how well the Islanders goaltenders have been playing, but they are not invincible. They gave up three goals to the Capitals, who are not that much better than Philadelphia offensively.
Plus, with the Flyers playing on Wednesday, I expect some tired players and that leads to mistakes. Take the over.
Pick: Go over 5.5 goals at +105.