A busy Tuesday night in the NHL includes the Tampa Bay Lightning visiting the New York Islanders. The Lightning got off to a hot start to the season but they have cooled off of late while the Islanders are still trying to get going this season. The Lightning are hoping that two of their injured players, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan Callahan return for this contest while the Islanders are healthy but not everyone is happy.
This war on the ice will go down Tuesday, November 1, 2016, at 7 p.m. ET at the Barclays Center. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Both teams had Monday off as there were no games scheduled in the NHL on October 31. The Lightning will be completing a long six-game road trip and normally the finale of a long road trip is tough on a team but there are two factors in favor of Tampa Bay in this game. First, they had Monday off so it is not a back-to-back and second, they played the Rangers on Sunday so there is no travel involved as they were already in New York.
The Islanders are playing the second game of a five-game homestand as they were home against Toronto on Sunday.
The NHL odds on this game should be near a pick with the total at 5 over or 5.5 under.
Goalie Report
The Lightning have the edge in goal as they have one of the top goalies in the league in Ben Bishop and an excellent backup in Andrei Vasilevskiy. Bishop was 3-2 with a 3.22 goals against average in his first five starts while Vasilevskiy was 2-1 with a 2.05 goals against average in his first three starts.
The Islanders goaltending situation is a mess as they have three goaltenders, none of whom have played that well. Jaroslav Halak was supposed to be the starter this season but he is just 2-3 with a 3.04 goals against average. Thomas Greiss was 1-2 in his first three games with a 2.71 goals against average. New York also has J-F Berube who they believe has a bright future so they don’t want to put him on waivers.
Allan Walsh, the agent for Halak said that he is not happy with the way the team has treated its goaltenders. Walsh is also the agent for third-string goaltender J-F Berube so he definitely has an interest. The situation is so bad that general manager Garth Snow has let teams know that Halak is now on the trade market. The Islanders have said they don’t want to release Berube so they have to do something with Halak or Greiss.
Key Stat
The Lightning have started strongly this season even without alternate captain Ryan Callahan who is due to return from right hip surgery. The Lightning have also missed Nikita Kucherov who has missed time due to an upper body injury.
The Lightning won five of the eight meetings last season against the Islanders including the last four. The Islanders have won seven of the last ten at home against Tampa but they did drop the last two last season at home, losing 5-4 and 2-1.
Free NHL Picks
Tampa Bay is the better team right now than the Islanders and even though this is the last game of the trip, the Lightning should have had enough rest not having traveled since they played the Rangers in New York and with Monday off. I will take the Lightning to win this contest. This could also be a high scoring contest as the Lightning are averaging just over three goals per game while the Islanders are also scoring nearly three goals per game so I will take this game over the total.
NHL Odds: Lightning 4, Islanders 3
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