Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Islanders NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 6/23/2021
Tampa Bay Lightning (47-20-5) vs. New York Islanders (42-23-8)
June 23, 2021 8:00 pm EDT
The Line: New York Islanders +125 / Tampa Bay Lightning -150; Over/Under: 5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders meet in game six of their best of seven NHL Stanley Cup semi-final series from Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to close out the series on the road and head back to the Stanley Cup finals to defend their championship after an 8-0 rout of the Islanders in game five last time out.
Steven Stamkos got the party started for Tampa Bay just 45 second into the game and Yanni Gourde doubled the lead with just under nine minutes to go in the opening frame followed by Alex Killorn’s marker with just under five minutes to go. The Bolts matched their output of the first period in the second, with Stamkos pushing the lead too 4-0 before Ondrej Palat and Killorn scoring 2:10 apart to make it a 6-0 game after 40 minutes of play. Brayden Point pushed it to lucky seven just under two minutes into the 3rd and Luke Schenn made it eight for good measure with just under eight minutes to go in the game. Needless to say, the Islanders weren’t coming back and likely had their eyes on rebounding in game six. Andrei Vasilevskiy got the win and the shutout after stopping all 21 shots faced in the win while New York used both goaltenders in the loss, with Ilya Sorokin allowing 5 goals on 26 shots and Semyon Varlamov allowed 3 goals on 16 shots faced in defeat.
Tampa Bay is 4-1 in their last 5 road games and 91-42 in their last 133 games overall while the under is 8-3-1 in their last 12 games overall. New York is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall and 37-18 in their last 55 home games while the over is 6-2-1 in their last 9 games as a home underdog. The under is 4-1-2 in the last 7 meetings between these two teams.
I think it’s safe to say that we’re not going to see an output like the one we did in game five and there’s simply too much at stake for both sides for this game to turn into a blowout. Tampa Bay has their trip to the finals at stake while the Islanders have their season on the line with a raucous Nassau Coliseum behind them. Give me the under in what should be the definition of playoff hockey in game six.
