Colorado Avalanche vs New York Islanders 12/19/22 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The New York Islanders and the Colorado Avalanche meet in NHL action from the Ball Arena on Monday night.

The New York Islanders will be looking to build on a 5-2 win over Vegas in their last game. Brock Nelson has a team-high 33 points with a team-high 15 goals and 18 assists while Mathew Barzal has 31 points with a team-high 27 assists and Anders Lee has 23 points with 10 goals and 13 assists. Ilya Sorokin has gone 10-10 with a 2.50 GAA and a .921 save percentage while Semyon Varlamov is 8-3-1 with a 2.65 GAA and a .919 save percentage so far this season.

The Colorado Avalanche will hope to build on a 3-1 win over Nashville last time out. Mikko Rantanen leads the Avs in scoring with 38 points including a team-high 21 goals and 17 assists while Nathan MacKinnon has 34 points with a team-high 26 assists, but continues to miss time due to injury. Cale Makar has 28 points with 21 assists as well this season. Alexandar Georgiev is 12-6-2 with a 2.59 GAA and a .920 save percentage while Pavel Francouz is 4-5 with a 2.80 GAA and a .913 save percentage between the pipes for Colorado this season.

New York is 1-6 in their last 7 games against the Central division and 18-37 in their last 55 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall. Colorado is 84-37 in their last 121 games overall and 66-21 in their last 87 home games while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games following a win.

I get the case to be made for both sides here, but I like the under in this game. New York’s kind of deviated from their low-scoring style, but a banged up Colorado team that’s clearly missing Nathan MacKinnon should help the Isles get back to their low-scoring ways. This just feels like a first to 3 wins kind of game, so give me the under here.