Pittsburgh Penguins (27-17-9) vs. New York Islanders (27-23-7)
February 17, 2023 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: New York Islanders -115 / Pittsburgh Penguins -105; Over/Under: +5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders meet in NHL action from the UBS Arena on Friday night. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
The Islanders are -115 home favorites while the Penguins are -105 road underdogs with the total for this game set at 5.5 goals.
Injuries
For Pittsburgh, Ryan Poehling and Mark Friedman are both questionable for this game with upper body injuries while Jan Rutta and Tristan Jarry remain out with upper body injuries as well. For the Islanders, Jean-Gabriel Pageau is out indefinitely with an upper body injury and Oliver Wahlstrom is out for the season with a head injury.
Matchup History
The Islanders’ 5-1 win back on December 27th, 2022, made it five straight games without back-to-back winners in this matchup.
Trends
Pittsburgh is 1-5 in their last 6 games following a win and 0-6 in their last 6 division games while the under is 5-1-2 in their last 8 Friday games. New York is 5-13 in their last 18 games overall and 21-47 in their last 68 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 home games.
Pick
I’m backing the Penguins here. I just want no part of the Islanders right now as they’re back to looking like the Islanders that struggled their way through the earlier part of the season and just lost three very winnable games in a row and looked brutal in doing so. Pittsburgh’s a better team than their recent play would indicate and I just feel that we’re getting a favorable price to fade a stumbling Islanders team. Give me Pittsburgh here.
