NHL Betting Preview: New York Islanders at Toronto Maple Leafs

Added on Oct 18, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

With another weekend of football betting action behind us we’ll turn our attention to the NHL on Monday starting with a game between the New York Islanders and the surprising Toronto Maple Leafs from the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs have struggled in the past couple of years, but have jumped out to a 4-0-0 record to open the 2010-2011 season. For the Isles, they’ve played fairly well but have lost three of their first five games though two of the losses came after regulation so it’s not like they’re getting run out of the rink every night.

New York Islanders at Toronto Maple Leafs
October 18, 2010–4:00 PM Pacific

Hard to find fault with anything the Toronto Maple Leafs have been doing so far–they’ve been scoring goals, playing decent defense, getting good goaltending and–most importantly–winning games. The Leafs are currently #2 in the NHL in scoring average (4.0 goals per game), tied for #7 in scoring defense (2.25 goals per game) and undefeated with all four wins in regulation. Jean-Sebastian Giguere has been solid in net and has 3 of the Leafs’ four victories. Perhaps the most impressive statistic is Toronto’s #2 ranking in fewest shots on goal per game–averaging 23.8 shots against per game. That’s a sign of a hard working defense and suggests that the strong performance to begin the year is no fluke.

The Islanders have played fairly well this year and statistically it’s not that they’re glaringly bad in any specific area but, at the same time, they don’t excel at any component of the game either. This is the first game of a four game road trip, while the Maple Leafs’ schedule sets up very well this week–they’ve had three days since their last game at the NY Rangers and will have three more days before a rematch against the ‘Broadway Blueshirts’ at home. Basically, if ‘it ain’t broke don’t fix it’. No reason to fade the Leafs now and particularly with the Isles’ struggling in this building. Toronto has won 3 of the L4 meetings on Air Canada Centre ice and is 21-6-1 since 1996.

Bet Toronto Maple Leafs -180 over New York Islanders