Islanders vs. Penguins Pick

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Hockey betting fans will love to sink their teeth into another great game on the NBC Sports Network on Tuesday night, as the New York Islanders hope to pull off the upset of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Isles have won back to back games in this series as huge underdogs, and they have gotten off to a respectable start to this campaign as well. The team has put up just a ton of goals over the course of the last four games, as there have been 17 strikes in four games after losing 2-1 to the New Jersey Devils on the opening night of the season. The goaltending though, leaves a whole heck of a lot to the imagination. The combination of G Evgeni Nabokov and G Rick DiPietro has been pretty darn bad, though at least they are getting away with it thanks to the way that the offense has played. Of course, it’s not just the goaltending that has been bad for New York. The team has allowed 31.8 shots on goal per game, and over the course of these last three games, it has allowed 35.0 shots per game. If there’s a plus side for the defense though, it’s that the team has allowed just one power play over the course of the last five games.

The Penguins meanwhile, are seemingly just due to bust out. They have failed on six straight power plays, and as a result, they only have five goals scored in three games. However, when you look at the shots per game that this team is creating ,we know that goals are due to come. The Pens have at least 34 shots in three of the last four games, and it has outshot four straight foes and have not been outshot this year. Pittsburgh is only going to go as far as C Evgeni Malkin and C Sidney Crosby takes it. These two have been out of this world this year, accounting for four goals and seven assists combined in five games. LW James Neal is one of the top goal scorers in the league with four goals, and he seems to be destined for another remarkable year after his 40/40 season in 2011-12.

The truth of the matter is that the Penguins are the better of the two teams in this game, and it really isn’t all that close. And yes, all of the signs are pointing to the fact that Pittsburgh is set to bust out, while New York is set to start sliding. That being said though, no team should be a -210 favorite at this point in the season. We’ll take our chances that the Isles are able to pull off an upset.

New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins Pick: New York Islanders +190