New York Islanders vs Ottawa Senators 2/1/22 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Ottawa Senators and the New York Islanders meet in NHL action from the UBS Arena on Tuesday night.

The Ottawa Senators will look to build on their 3-2 OT win over the Oilers last time out. Drake Batherson leads the Sens in scoring with 34 points including a team-high 21 assists while Josh Norris has 26 points with a team-high 18 goals and 8 assists. Brady Tkachuk has 29 points with 12 goals and 17 assists as well this season. Filip Gustavsson’s gone 3-8-1 in goal for Ottawa, putting up a 3.80 GAA and an .893 save percentage while Anton Forsberg is 7-7-1 with a 2.95 GAA and a .911 save percentage. 

The New York Islanders will look to bounce back from back-to-back losses after a 4-3 loss to Minnesota in their last game. Mathew Barzal leads New York with 27 points split between 9 goals and a team-high 18 assists while Josh Bailey has 20 points with 17 assists and Oliver Wahlstrom has 17 points with 9 goals and 8 assists. Adam Pelech also has a team-best +11 plus/minus rating for the Isles while Brock Nelson has a team-high 14 goals this season. Ilya Sorokin has gone 12-8-5 with a 2.37 GAA and a .923 save percentage this season.

Ottawa is 11-23 in their last 34 games as an underdog and 2-5 in their last 7 games overall while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record. New York is 9-1 in their last 10 games as a favorite and 38-13 in their last 51 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400 while the under is 8-2 in their last 10 home games.

I get the case to be made either way here, but I think I’m still leaning towards the Islanders here. Not only does New York play a physical style of hockey that’s difficult for opposing teams to contend with, but they’re also finding the back of the net with some regularity as well right now and combined, that makes this a very steep hill for Ottawa to have to climb. I’m siding with New York -1.5 here.