New York Islanders vs. Philadelphia Flyers Prediction, NHL Odds
After a 3-2 overtime win in Philadelphia on Saturday, there’s not much rest for the Flyers or the New York Islanders, as they will play the back end of their two-game set on Sunday.
The Flyers are a slim -120 favourite to win on the NHL odds with a total of 5.5 goals.
Islanders vs. Flyers Betting Analysis
Before Saturday, these teams hadn’t met since a tight seven game second round series, in last year’s playoffs. The No. 6 seed Islanders ended up upsetting the No. 1 seed Flyers in a series that had three overtime games, including a double-overtime Game 6.
For better or worse the Islanders just don’t play an offensive style of hockey, so it’s not surprising to see they have only hit the Over in one of their eight games, this season. New York has struggled lately, going 1-4 straight up in their last five games and 0-5 SU in their last five road games. The Isles have managed to cover in half of their eight games, this season.
Philly has consistently been able to break through the Islanders’ defence over the last few years. The Flyers have hit the Over in 14 of their last 20 games against New York, including eight of their last 11 home games against the Isles. Philadelphia is covering more times than not this season, going 6-3 against the spread.
New York Islanders
After starting the season 3-1-0, the Islanders struggled and came into yesterday’s game on a three game losing streak. The Isles have never been known as a scoring team, but even for them, scoring has been hard to come by, this season. With just 14 goals on the year entering Saturday, the Isles had the fewest goals in the Eastern Division and the third fewest in the entire NHL. They didn’t solve those issues in Saturday’s overtime loss, but they showed life. The Isles managed to come back from a two-goal deficit and salvage a point, but they’re still struggling to get on the score sheet.
Mathew Barzal leads the team with eight points in eight games (3G, 5A), but no one on the islanders has managed more than three goals and Barzal is the only point-per-game player. Barzal had four shots on net and an assist on Saturday, while Jordan Eberle picked up his third goal of the year and Scott Mayfield buried his first goal (and point) in eight games, this season.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyer should be riding high after the overtime win. Scott Laughton picked the perfect time to get his first goal of the season, finishing with the overtime winner. Jakub Voracek and Kevin Hayes also found the back of the net for Philly, while Carter Hart stopped 26 of 28 shots in the win. In an odd move, Travis Konecny, who is tied for the team lead in goals, was benched for the game. Konecny has five goals and three assists in eight games for the Flyers.
A big lift for the Flyers was the addition of defenceman Philippe Myers to the lineup, who returned after missing four games with a fractured rib. Myers played just over 23 minutes and recorded two shots in the game. Philadelphia now has a solid top-four grouping back together on defence. Myers and Travis Sanheim create a strong backup option to the top pairing of Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere.
NYI
PHI