Who's ready for another day of NHL action? On this Tuesday evening, the St. Louis Blues will do battle with the New York Islanders in an inter-conference clash that should be highly entertaining! With that being said, let's take a look at our NHL odds series where our Blues-Islanders prediction and pick will come true.
The Blues are coming off of a four-game losing streak in which they have allowed six goals in three-consecutive matchups. Now sitting at a record of 11-14-0 which is good for only 6th-place in the Central Division, the time is now for the Blues to start kicking it into high gear.
As for the Islanders, New York was able to break a mini-two-game skid with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Unlike St. Louis, the Islanders have endured a much more successful season up to this point with an overall record of 16-10-0 through their first 26 games of the regular season.
Here are the Blues-Islanders NHL odds, courtesy of FanDuel
NHL Odds: Blues-Islanders Odds
St. Louis Blues: +1.5 (-170)
New York Islanders: -1.5 (+138)
Over: 6 (+102)
Under: 6 (-124)
Why The Blues Could Cover The Spread
Last season, the Blues put together a solid campaign that resulted in a first-round playoff triumph before giving the eventual Stanley Cup champion Avalanche a run for their money in six games in the round following. With preseason expectations loftier then most after reaching the postseason a year ago, St. Louis has gotten off to a dreadful start in 2022-2023. Whether it's a lack of fundamentally sound defense being played, not enough offense, or goaltending that has not been up to snuff, the Blues need to right many wrongs before they embark upon the path of success.
In order to find a way to cover the spread out on the road in the Big Apple, St. Louis must find a way to stand their ground and finish off games. Against the Rangers on Monday, the Blues withheld a 4-3 lead with only ten minutes remaining in the third period before the wheels fell off. Alas, the Rangers took advantage of some sloppy play and scored a trio of times in the final stages as St. Louis was left dumbfounded by the time the final horn sounded.
Outside of finishing strong, the Blues need to simply stop shooting themselves in the foot. As it stands, the Blues have allowed the fifth-most goals in all of hockey and need to do a much better job of taking care of the puck when they are in their own zone. Fortunately, the good news is that they should have goalie Jordan Binnington in net. Even though Binnington has endured some uncharacteristic struggles this season with a poor 3.42 goals allowed per game and a .889 save percentage, he is still one of the top goaltenders in the league when he is hitting on all cylinders.
Why The Islanders Could Cover The Spread
The exact opposite couldn't be more said when talking about the New York Islanders, as they have surrendered the fourth-least amount of goals on the season in the NHL with only 66 shots getting past them in total. Because of this, the Islanders have been able to avoid lengthy losing streaks over the years due to their ability of not letting teams get good looks on net.
Obviously, another shutout, spread-covering victory like the one they had against the Blackhawks would certainly get the job done, but don't be surprised if New York's offense comes to play as well. At the moment, the Islanders have racked up a 3.15 goals per game average which puts them smack-dab in the middle in scoring, but they also have an abundance of weapons to go around to get the job done.
For starters, the most dangerous skater on this weapon will be center Mathew Barzal and his ability to get in on the scoring fun. With a total of 27 points on the season which leads the entire club in that category, he has also recorded at least one point in eight of his last nine outings and provides some electricity to the Islanders' offense in more ways than one.
Most importantly, the biggest reason for the Islanders' success has been their ability to consistently out-shoot their foes. This happened to be the case against Chicago, as even though New York lost the face-off battle 40-21, they were able to pepper Chicago's goalie with 40 total shots which were 19 more than what the Blackhawks were able to muster up. If New York can dominate the time-on-attack and get some good looks offensively, they will be extremely difficult to stop.
Final Blues-Islanders Prediction & Pick
As desperate as the Blues are to snap their porous losing skid to the Islanders in tonight's matchup, they will have to wait for another game as it will be New York that gets the job done with a multiple-goal victory in front of their home fans.
Final Blues-Islanders Prediction & Pick: Islanders -1.5 (+138)
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