Islanders vs. Hurricanes Game 1 Prediction: Stanley Cup Playoff Odds
The Isles and Canes are meeting in the postseason for the third time in the past five years and New York will be looking to exact revenge after getting bounced in both of their previous meetings.
The Hurricanes are a heavy -225 favourite on the NHL odds to take Game 1, with the total set at 5.5.
Islanders vs. Hurricanes Playoff Betting Odds
This playoff rivalry first got its legs in the second round of the 2019 playoffs when the Canes embarrassed the Isles, taking them out in four straight. Skip forward to the 2023 postseason and they met again in the first round after Carolina finished atop the Metro Division facing New York out of the wildcard.
The four-game season series between these squads was as close as it gets, ending in a split with two games needing overtime. Carolina won their most recent meeting 4-1, resulting in a combined score of 16-14 for the Canes. Despite being two of the best defensive structured teams in the league, all but one of these games hit the OVER.
At +280 to win this series, the Islanders have the second-highest payout to win in the first-round series versus Carolina at -357. The Hurricanes Carolina are the +650 favourite to win the cup on our NHL Futures and the Islanders are a long shot at +5000.
As for prop bets, Carolina’s deadline acquisition Jake Guentzel is +200 to lead the series in points followed by linemate Sebastian Aho at +230, before Islanders forward Mathew Barzal at +900. Broc Nelson and Bo Horvat to lead the series in shots could be a good value bet at +1200 they both finished in the top 30 in that category this season.
New York Islanders
The second half of the season was a brawl in the Metropolitan Division and the Islanders played some of their best hockey in that battle for one of only two playoff spots. A big part of their momentum in the second half was the hiring of their new head coach and NHL legend Patrick Roy. Since hiring Roy in mid-January, the Islanders went 20-12-5, including a 9-0-1 run in the season’s final month to grab the third seed in the division.
Mathew Barzal had another great season notching 80 points (23G, 57A) in 80 games to lead the team in points, Brock Nelson (34), Bo Horvat (33) and Kyle Palmieri (30) were the top goal-scorers. The biggest surprise of the season for New York was the emergence of 24-year-old defenceman Noah Dobson who scored 70 points and was in Norris Trophy talks earlier in the season.
Coach Roy has already confirmed veteran Semyon Varlamov will get the nod in goal for the series opener, but do not be surprised to see Ilya Sorokin get a look at some point too. Varlamov got most of the starts since Roy took over going 14-8-4 with a .918 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes were a favourite to go all the way since early in the season and followed that up with 111 points, good for third in the entire league. They played their best hockey in the final month of the season going 13-3-1 in the final seventeen games. The underlying numbers also prove how good this team was finishing in the top five for goals against, and top 10 in goals for while having the league’s best penalty-kill and second-best powerplay.
Their late-season dominance could be accredited to management’s new approach at the trade deadline. The team broke tradition and traded out assets to pick up two offensive threats Jake Guentzel and Andrei Kuznetsov. While Kuznetsov took longer to settle in, Guentzel went crazy from the get-go putting up 25 points (8G, 17A) in 17 games on the team’s topline.
Goaltending was a big issue early on in the season for Carolina as all four of the goalies on the roster struggled to stop pucks. After missing 50 games in the middle of the season, Frederick Anderson has been heating up and will be the starter in Game 1. He ended the season with a 13-2 record with a ridiculous 1.84 goals-against and a .932 save percentage. Canes will hope the small sample is no fluke.
NYI
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