NHL Betting Picks: NY Islanders @ Atlanta
Added on Mar 05, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
No Comments
With college basketball entering their tournament season action at sportsbooks will be heating up over the next few weeks, but we won’t forget about NHL betting as pro hockey gets back into full swing following their Winter Olympic break. Today we’ll take a look at an Eastern Conference matchup between the NY Islanders and Atlanta Thrashers. Both Atlanta and the Islanders are in a pack of teams vying for the Eastern Conference playoffs. Currently the Thrashers are in 10th place but they’re only 1 point behind 8th place Boston, 2 points behind 7th place Montreal and 5 points behind 6th place Philadelphia. They also have to worry about Tampa Bay, who is one point behind them in 11th place. The Islanders are currently in 12th place just four points behind Atlanta.
NY Islanders at Atlanta Thrashers
March 4, 4:05 PM Pacific
Despite their lackluster record the Islanders have given the Thrashers fits in recent years, including this season where they’ve won all three meetings. Since the Thrashers came into the NHL, the Islanders are 11-6-2 in Atlanta. With a record of 14-10-4 at Phillips Arena, the Thrashers don’t have a particularly formidable home ice advantage. Atlanta is in somewhat better form with a 5-3-2 mark in their L10 games compared to the Islanders 3-7-0 record. Both teams have played and won one game since return from the Winter Olympic break.
The Islanders are 26th in the league in goals scored per game and 24th in goals against per game. The Thrashers are 7th in goals scored per game and 27th in goals against per game. Despite the Islanders’ difficulty scoring goals overall they’ve not had problems ‘putting the biscuit in the basket’ when they play the Thrashers. In the three games this season against Atlanta, the Islanders are averaging 5.33 goals scored. We’ll definitely take a look at the Over here. The three games this year have produced an average total of 8.3 goals per game, and the last 7 games have an average total of 8 goals even. Only one of the six previous games have seen less than six goals scored–the second meeting this year won 4-1 by the Islanders for the only Under in the timeframe. Sportsbooks have been posting lower totals on Atlanta games since the Ilya Kovalchuk trade, but the reality is that the Thrashers have been scoring more goals per game (3.8) without Kovalchuk than they did with him (2.9).
We’ll also take a shot on the Islanders in this game. Atlanta isn’t a good enough team to justify a -145 price even at home, and with the Islanders’ success against the Thrashers this year we have no problem taking New York as +125 underdogs.
Bet New York Islanders +125 over Atlanta
Bet New York Islanders/Atlanta Over 5′ -130
