Islanders vs Winnipeg: The Islanders pick up a hard-fought win

Winnipeg could not take points from the Islanders in four straight head-to-head meetings. Will the Jets be able to break such a bad streak at the end of the upcoming game? We predict the Islanders will be stronger again!

The Islanders have been having a very disappointing regular season. Before the start of the current season, they were considered among the main contenders for the Stanley Cup, but it turned out to be quite different. Many factors hindered the Islanders’ success, so their chances of making the playoffs now look slim. A couple of months ago, it appeared the Blues and Oranges had overcome their crisis and were on the upswing, but then there was another setback. In their last 14 meetings, Barry Trotz’s team has only won five times and lost five times, so the Islanders currently sit just 11th in the Eastern Conference standings.

For Winnipeg, the current regular season is also going extremely poorly. They’ve made steady progress in recent years, transforming themselves from the league’s outsiders into top contenders, but this year's regular season has been very difficult for them. January was difficult for the Jets as they snapped a six-game losing streak. Since then, they’ve been able to rectify the situation, but they continue to alternate between successful stretches and disappointing ones. In their last two games, Dave Lowry’s team beat Tampa Bay and New Jersey 7-4 and 2-1, respectively, to keep their 12th place in the Western Conference standings.

The Islanders and Winnipeg are two teams that are failing miserably in the current regular season and have a very low chance of making the playoffs. Yes, they do occasionally allow wonderful stretches, winning a couple or three games, but then again, they are in trouble. The only thing that speaks in favor of the Islanders on the eve of the upcoming confrontation is the statistics of the personal meetings, as in the last four tussles they did not allow the Jets to score a single point. As a result, a bet on the Islanders’ victory in the match for 1.80 is inevitable.

We shouldn’t expect high scoring activity in the upcoming encounter. As we remember, in the first part of the regular season the Islanders had to miss several games because of an outbreak of coronavirus, so since then they have to stay in conditions of an extremely heavy schedule, so there is not much energy and emotion for a bright and spectacular hockey. Winnipeg are another team that plays close hockey. In their last three head-to-head encounters, the opponents have drawn just 11 goals (3.67 on average per game), so Total Under 5.5 pucks for 2.07 would seem to be a good tip.

The Islanders’ top scorer this season is once again Mathew Barzal, who has spent his entire career with the New York club. He’s been incredibly consistent in every regular season and has been one of the team’s top scorers. He played in 45 games during the current regular season, recording a career-high 37 points (12 goals + 25 assists). In such a situation, it’s worth taking a closer look at Mathew Barzal’s Total Over 0.5 points for 1.80.