New York Islanders (36-20-7) vs. Boston Bruins (38-16-8)
May 31, 2021 7:30 pm EDT
The Line: Boston Bruins -208 / New York Islanders +167; Over/Under: -5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The New York Islanders and the Boston Bruins meet in game two of their best-of-seven playoff series in NHL action from the TD Garden on Monday night.
The New York Islanders will attempt to bounce back and even up the series after falling into a 1-0 hole after a 5-2 loss to the Bruins in the series opener on Saturday.
Anthony Beauvillier opened the scoring for the Islanders on the power play with just over eight minutes to go in the opening period but David Pastrnak would get the Bruins on the board with a power play marker of their own in the last minute of the opening frame to tie things up at one. Pastrnak doubled his tally and put Boston in front with just under nine minutes to go in the 2nd, but the lead lasted all of 1:26 before Adam Pelech tied the game at two for the Islanders and sent us to the 3rd deadlocked. Charlie McAvoy put the Bruins in front just 6:20 into the 3rd and Pastrnak put in the important insurance goal with just over four minutes to play to complete his hat-trick before Taylor hall iced the win with an empty-netter just 2:45 later to stake the Bruins the win in game one.
Tuukka Rask got the win in goal for Boston after stopping 20 of 22 shots faced in the winning effort while Ilya Sorokin ended up with the loss between the pipes for the Islanders after allowing four goals on 39 shots faced in the defeat, his first L of the postseason.
New York is 4-10 in their last 14 road games and 2-5 in their last 7 games following a loss of 3 or more goals while the under is 61-30-7 in their last 98 games as an underdog. Boston is 11-1 in their last 12 home games and 5-0 in their last 5 games overall while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games following a win. The favorite is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams.
This is a tough one to call as both teams could make a case as to why they’ll win game two, and with this total at 5, it adds another wrinkle as most times, five would get us an under. With that said, I’m leaning towards Boston on the puck line here, simply because I think game two has a high chance of playing out like game one, tight for a large chunk of the game with Boston leading late and putting in an empty-netter to secure the win. The Bruins have simply been on a roll in the second half of the season and historically they’ve been a tough nut to crack at home. Give me the Bruins -1.5 here.
