The New York Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins meet in NHL action from PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night.
The New York Islanders will look to build off of a 3-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres in their last matchup. Mathew Barzal leads the Isles in scoring with 15 points including 6 goals and 9 assists while J-G Pageau and Anders Lee each have 10 points with Pageau logging 6 goals and 4 assists while Lee has 7 goals and 3 assists. Jordan Eberle has 6 goals and 3 assists for his 9 points while Josh Bailey and Nick Leddy each have 8 points with a goal and 7 assists. Semyon Varlamov has 7 wins and a shutout with a 1.89 GAA in 11 appearances for the Islanders this season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will be out to bounce back from a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals in their last matchup. Bryan Rust leads the Pens in scoring with 13 points coming on 5 goals and 8 assists while both Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby each have 12 points with 5 goals and 7 assists for their 12 points on the year. Teddy Blueger has 8 points with 2 goals and 6 assists while Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin each have 7 points with Letang logging 7 assists while Malkin’s got 3 goals and 4 assists. Tristan Jarry has seen the bulk of Pittsburgh’s action in goal, going 3-6 with a 3.74 GAA while Casey DeSmith has 4 wins and a 2.84 GAA this season.
New York is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall and 3-7 in their last 10 Thursday games while the under is 7-1-1 in their last 9 games following a win. Pittsburgh is 7-1 in their last 8 games as a favorite and 150-70 in their last 220 home games while the under is 13-3-2 in their last 18 Thursday games. New York is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings between these two teams and 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams in Pittsburgh.
I get the Penguins being favored at home, but this is a team that’s played a lot of tight games at home this season and I’m just not looking to back the Penguins even at home against the better teams in their division as I think the Penguins’ time as an elite team is drawing to a close with the goaltending in the shape that it’s in right now. I think we’re getting value with the better team in the Islanders, so I’ll side with the Islanders in this spot.