Last season, the Nashville Predators and the New York Islanders were the laughing stocks of their respective conferences. Things have changed. On Thursday, the teams will set foot on the ice of Nassau Coliseum as two of the best in the NHL.
Another New York team is scheduled to play this coming Thursday as the Vancouver Canucks pay Madison Garden a visit to face the New York Rangers. Read a full preview of that game here.
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Nashville Predators vs. New York Islanders Betting Preview
The Preds are eating teams alive. The San Jose Sharks were the latest team to taste Nashville’s wrath, after being annihilated by the Preds on Tuesday, 5-1. The Preds are now 6-0 in their last six games.
[sc:NHL240 ]Much of the Preds’ success this season can be tracked to their defense. Nashville is second in the league in that department with 2.25 goals allowed per game.
Pekka Rinne has been a nightmare for opposing skaters since losing his first game back after missing eight contests because of a knee injury. Rinne allowed four goals in the Preds’ 5-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on February 5, but followed that rusty performance with five-straight wins, wherein he had a .957 save percentage. Against the Sharks, Rinne played like a man possessed, turning away all but one of the Sharks’ 43 shots.
Rinne is helped by a blue line that limits opponents to just 28.7 shots per game—ninth fewest in the league. Together, they’ll be a tough cookie to crack, even for a high-scoring team like the Islanders.
The offense, meanwhile, is being taken care of by James Neal, Filip Forsberg, Colin Wilson, and a group of two-way blue liners that also know how to score. Neal became the Preds’ leading goal scorer when he scored his 20th goal of the season in the San Jose game. Forsberg and Wilson have 19 and 18 goals, respectively. Defensemen Shea Weber and Roman Josi have combined for 24 goals thus far this season.
Dating back to 2003, Nashville is 8-2 in its last 10 showdowns with the Islanders.
Will Nashville extend its win streak at the expense of the Islanders? Create a betting account now and put your NHL predictions to the test.
Betting on the New York Islanders
The 6-5 loss to the New York Rangers turns out to be a minor hiccup after all for the Islanders, who are now back to their winning ways after beating the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, 4-1. They are now 5-1 in their last six games.
Despite the long absence of Kyle Okposo, the Islanders have continued to pace the Metropolitan Division. Okposo (14 goals, 30 assists), who hasn’t played since January 19 because of an eye injury, was playing terrific at the top line with John Tavares before suffering a detached retina. The Islanders, however, have so far weathered the loss of Okposo and managed to keep their hold of the division’s top spot thanks to the pair of Anders Lee and Josh Bailey.
Lee has emerged as another scoring threat for the Islanders, who are third in the league in offense with 3.10 GF/G. The 24-year-old left winger has six goals and five assists this month, including a power play score in the Canes’ game that ended New York’s drought on the man advantage. Prior to their win against Carolina, the Islanders went scoreless in 12 power play opportunities.
Lee and the rest of the Islanders will next face a Nashville team that has been leaky against the power play as of late. The Preds are 14th in the league in penalty killing with an 81.3 success percentage. The Preds have allowed two power play goals in their last three games.
Bailey, on the other hand, has been producing as well as Okposo’s replacement. He has three goals and three assists in nine games this February.
But of course, the glue that keeps the Isles together is Tavares. The 2009 overall top pick leads the team in goals (28), assists (30), and power play scores (11).
