NHL Hockey Betting: Vancouver Canucks at New York Islanders

The New York Islanders aren’t off to a great start this season. They’re 4-6-2 with 10 points, have lost three straight and are in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division just one point ahead of last place Carolina. They’re coming off a 4-3 home loss to Edmonton on Saturday night and after this will have a tough scheduling stretch with games at Tampa Bay and Florida followed by home games against Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The good news is that they might be catching the right opponent and the right time as Vancouver is in awful form. The Canucks have lost 8 straight games and have been shut out in four of their last six. During their eight game losing streak they’ve scored a total of ten goals and a 1.25 goals per game average isn’t going to get it done. Nor is allowing 28 goals during a stretch when your team isn’t scoring half that many. That gives the ‘nuks a 3.5 goals against average during their losing streak and when you’re giving up over 2 goals per game more than you’re scoring the math isn’t going to work out in your favor.

Both teams have plenty of injuries to deal with. The Islanders were already without Ryan Pulock and Mikhail Grabovski long term but have added Travis Hamonic to that list–he’ll be out four to six weeks with a thumb injury. Mathew Barzal (strep throat) and Johnny Boychuk (lower body) are both listed as questionable here. For the Canucks they’re without Anton Rodin and Jayson Megna and have Daniel Sedin, Alexander Edler and Christopher Tanev all listed as ‘questionable’.

Neither goaltender has been confirmed at this juncture but it’ll likely be Ryan Miller going for Vancouver against Jaroslav Halak for the Islanders. Miller hasn’t played badly despite a 1-5-0 record. He’s got a 2.53 goals against average and 0.916 save percentage. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help him much when his team is averaging just over a goal per game in the near term. Halak has been decent though not spectacular this year with a 2-3-3 W/L, a 2.92 GAA and a 0.905 save percentage. The teams split two games last year, each winning on the other team’s rink. Vancouver has won 3 of the last 4 head to head meetings including both on the Isles’ home rink. Not much confidence in Vancouver but this price is just too high.

BET VANCOUVER CANUCKS +170 OVER NEW YORK ISLANDERS