Boston vs Islanders: the Bears will once again be closer to success

Boston hockey players have beaten the Islanders in their last three head-to-head meetings in the regular season. Will Bruce Cassidy's team be as successful against the Islanders in the playoffs? Our prediction: the Bears will once again be closer to success!

Boston, of course, reached a new level in the playoffs. The experienced team squeaked through the regular season, at risk of missing the Stanley Cup altogether, but in the decisive games of the season, it began to show a completely different quality of hockey. Yes, the Bears suffered in the first three games of the series with Washington, winning two of them in overtime, but then on the spur of the moment, they won the fourth and fifth games with a total score of 7-2 and made it to the final of the East division. The main thing was that Boston's first line started to show its usual level of play, making the difference in favor of their team.

The Islanders were lucky as hell! The team entered the playoffs only in fourth place in the East, showing in the regular championship a modest game even by their standards, but they got in the first round against Pittsburgh, which has been in crisis for several years. Of course, the Penguins tortured the Islanders in the opening series, but then Barry Trotz's team realized that their opponent in the Eastern Division final has long rested and is preparing for the next round, while they are still suffering from the Pennsylvanians, after which they won three games in a row with a total score of 12-6, winning the series with a 4-2 victory as well.

Boston has historically played well against the Islanders, winning exactly twice as many head-to-head meetings as the Islanders over the past decade, but they have been unable to remember that for a long time this season, losing five straight head-to-head games in the opening rounds of the regular season. Fortunately, in April the Bears had an epiphany and beat the New York team three times by a combined score of 10-3. Now, of course, Bruce Cassidy's team is still the favorite to win the game. That's why we need to place our money on Boston's win at odds of 1.97.

Boston and the Islanders are the league's strongest teams in patience. The Bears are the real champions in this area, while the Islanders are their imitators, which we also noticed in the last face-to-face meetings between the teams, as the opponents have combined for only 12 pucks (4.00 average per game) in the previous three ties. There is a high probability that in the opening playoffs, while both teams have something to lose, they will be cautious and play on defense, so the best option for the forecast seems to be a total of fewer than 4.5 pucks at odds close to 2.2.

Boston and Islanders in the opening series will fight for the initiative, as both teams are great at playing on the score, which confirmed in their semifinals of the Eastern Division. Of course, no one wants to give their opponent the advantage, so the game will start cautiously, the teams will make a reconnaissance, so do not expect high-scoring activity from the first minutes of the confrontation. With this in mind, it is worth looking at a bet on the total of fewer than 1.5 pucks from the first to the tenth minute of the game at odds of about 2.60.