The New Jersey Devils and the New York Islanders meet in NHL action from the UBS Arena on Thursday night.
The New Jersey Devils will look to bounce back from a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets last time out. Jesper Bratt leads the Devils in scoring with 32 points including 10 goals and a team-high 22 assists while Andreas Johnsson has 21 points with a team-high 9 goals and 12 assists. Dougie Hamilton also has 20 points with 7 goals and 13 assists and Nico Hischier also has 21 points with 7 goals and 14 assists this season. The aforementioned Bratt also has a team-high +5 plus/minus rating as well this season.
The New York Islanders will look to build on back-to-back wins after a 3-2 OT win over the Oilers in their last game. Mathew Barzal leads New York with 21 points split between 6 goals and a team-high 15 assists while Brock Nelson has 13 points with a team-high 10 goals and Oliver Wahlstom also has 8 goals this season as part of his 15-point total. Adam Pelech also has a team-best +4 plus/minus rating for the Isles this season. Ilya Sorokin has gone 8-7-5 with a 2.46 GAA and a .925 save percentage while Semyon Varlamov is 2-5-1 with a 2.77 GAA and an .910 save percentage in goal for New York.
New Jersey is 7-17 in their last 24 games overall and 17-45 in their last 62 games as an underdog while the over is 11-0 in their last 11 road games. New York is 5-14 in their last 19 games overall and 41-20 in their last 61 games as a home favorite while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 division games.
I get the case to be made for the plus money, but I’m not about to back the Devils here even with a fair bit of plus money. The price is steeper than I’d like with the Islanders, but I’m looking to the Isles on the puck line as I think the Devils are in for a world of hurt here.