The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders face off on Tuesday night after wrapping up a two-game series just over a week ago.
The teams split the matchups and have since gone in different directions.
The Rangers are on a four-game winning streak and while all of those wins came at the expense of the lousy New Jersey Devils, it’s still a good result.
Meanwhile, the Islanders were dominated by the Boston Bruins for two straight games before picking up a 1-0 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday.
Which of these New York teams will be able to pick up the win and cash for your NHL picks?
New York Rangers at New York Islanders
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 – 7 p.m. ET
Location: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
NHL Odds: Islanders -130
New York Rangers
The Rangers are a solid team.
Although the standings show that they are fifth in their division, it’s one of the toughest in the NHL. The Rangers had a rough start to the year when they began going 10-12-3. Since then, though, they are 13-4-3 and have been one of the better teams to use for sports betting these days.
Starting off with their offense, the team ranks sixth in the league in total points per game at ninth, scoring 3.3 goals and 5.7 assists per contest. Artemi Panarin has been the leader of that unit, picking up 52 total points on 16 goals and 36 assists for the team. Mika Zibanejad is another name to look out for in this matchup as he has been turning up the heat lately, scoring five goals in the last ten games for the team.
While their offense is pretty strong, this team is 7-1-2 in their last 10 games because of excellent defensive play and goaltending from Igor Shesterkin. He is 13-9-3 on the season behind a .925 save percentage.
Though he may not get the start in this one due to rest, which would place another capable goalie in net for New York. Alexandar Georgiev holds a respectable 7-5-2 record on the year and holds a .902 save percentage for the Rangers.
Georgiev left Sunday’s game and while it’s been deemed minor, the thinking is that he’s not likely to be in net. This team will need solid play from whoever ends up getting into the net. If they can do that, they have a good chance of winning this contest.
New York Islanders
The Isles have cooled off after a nice hot streak where they collected seven wins in nine games. Yes, they are coming off a win over the Philadelphia Flyers but they are just 2-3 in their last five. Offense is the issue these days as the Islanders have scored a total of just six goals in their last five contests. As a matter of fact, they’ve scored one goal or less in four of those outings.
Mathew Barzal is leading the team with 25 assists and 38 points on year. He hasn’t been getting it done on his own either as Jordan Eberle has picked up three goals and five assists in the teams’ last 10 games. Flipping over to their defense, they will need another strong performance from their goaltenders if they want to win this game.
The Rangers are hot lately, which means that Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin will need to be sharp. Varlamov is expected to start in this one, he has a 16-9-3 record on the year with a .922 save percentage while Sorokin has a 12-4-1 record and the exact same save percentage. Maybe strong performances from either of them could give their offense a bit of a spark.
Overall, under might be the way to go if you’re betting this game as the Islanders just aren’t putting many pucks in the net these days. We’ll see if anything changes on Tuesday.