New York Islanders (35-27-8) vs. San Jose Sharks (19-36-14)
March 18, 2023 10:30 pm EDT
The Line: San Jose Sharks +145 / New York Islanders -170; Over/Under: +5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The New York Islanders and the San Jose Sharks meet in NHL action from the SAP Center on Saturday night. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
The New York Islanders are -170 road favorites while San Jose is a +145 home underdog. The total for this game is set at 5.5 goals.
Injuries
For the Islanders, Josh Bailey, Casey Cizikas and Otto Koivula are all questionable for this game while Mathew Barzal remains out indefinitely. For San Jose, Evgeny Svechnikov is questionable for this game, while Jacob MacDonald, Jonah Gadjovich and Radim Simek are all out indefinitely.
Matchup History
New York’s 5-2 win back on October 18th, 2022, snapped San Jose’s two-game head-to-head win streak in this matchup.
Trends
New York is 57-28 in their last 85 games against a team with a losing record and 3-9 in their last 12 games played on 2 days rest while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall. San Jose is 13-38 in their last 51 games overall and 13-42 in their last 55 home games while the over is 23-8-2 in their last 33 home games.
Pick
I’m backing the Islanders -1.5 here. The Sharks just feel like they’re playing out the string, and even then, they’re still at home here where they’ve won just six times all year long. The Islanders need to take advantage of a spot like this with the teams around them in the wild card hunt playing tough games across the board and the Islanders just pumped a similar Pacific bottom feeder in Anaheim 6-3. I’m not sure we see 6 goals from the Isles here, but I think we see enough for a cover on the -1.5 puck line.
