Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders Predictions, NHL Free Pick 3/7/2020

Game: Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders

Date: Saturday, March 7, 2020

Location: Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY

TV: MSG+

Odds/Point Spread: Hurricanes (+122) Islanders (-135)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Nassau Coliseum is the venue where Semyon Varlamov and the New York Islanders (35-23-8, 5th in the Metropolitan Division) will take on the Carolina Hurricanes (35-25-5, 7th in the Metropolitan Division) on Saturday. The Hurricanes open this contest at +122 while the Islanders are priced at -135. The total has been set at 5.5. The Hurricanes are covering 50.0% of the time, having gone 30-30 SU. New York is covering 50.8% of the time, going 32-31 straight up.

The Carolina Hurricanes come into the game with a record of 35 wins and 25 losses, which is good for 7th in the Metropolitan Division. During the year thus far, they have converted a total of 203 goals which has them ranked at 10th in the Eastern Conference and 17th in the league. Their goal differential is +16, which is good for 8th in the league. The Hurricanes currently have a total of 75 points, which has them ranked at 16th in the league and 10th in the East. In the matter of shots toward the net, they currently have a total of 2,161 which has them ranked at 6th in the East and 9th in the league. As a team, Carolina has earned a total of 1,066 hits which has them averaging 16.4 per contest. They currently have a total of 610 blocks for this season. Protecting the net for Carolina is James Reimer from Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is 31 years old and has totaled 1,378 mins protecting the net this season. Reimer is conceding 2.66 GAA which places him at 12th among East goalies and 23rd among goalies in the NHL. During this year, he's given up 61 goals. He has a save percentage of .914 which places him at 11th among East goalies.

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The Carolina Hurricanes had a rough game after their 4 - 1 defeat against the Philadelphia Flyers their last time out. The Hurricanes had a rough night on the offensive side of the ice in the defeat. In this matchup, they earned a goal on 1 of the 29 shots they looked to score on. In addition, they had 1 power play opportunity but weren't able to score. Carolina ended up with a total of 4 penalty minutes for this outing. The Corsi for the Hurricanes sat at 60 and the Corsi against was 42 which means they had a Corsi percentage of 58.8%. Their Fenwick was 44 while the Fenwick against sat at 39, which tells us they had a Fenwick percentage of 53.0%. They earned 20 face-off wins and lost 30 of the face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 61.8% and they had a PDO of 90.1 for this game. Regarding their opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers tallied a total of 32 shots. They finished with 2 penalty minutes and they earned a total of 2 power play opportunities.

The Islanders will be the team across the ice and for the year they sit with 35 wins and 23 defeats. In the matter of goal differential, they currently sit 10th in the conference and 19th in the league with 0. They currently have a total of 183 goals for this season which ranks 13th in the East. New York has a team save % of .911 which has them 7th in the league, which means chances to score may be limited. They have a shooting percentage of 9.4% which is good for 11th in the East. In goal for New York is Semyon Varlamov who is having an ok season by giving up 2.59 goals per game and that has him ranked 11th among Eastern Conference goalies and 18th in the NHL. In the 2,452 minutes he has played this season, he has allowed 106 goals. His save percentage is .915, which has him placed 9th among Eastern Conference goalies and 21st in the NHL.

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The New York Islanders squared up with the Ottawa Senators in a matchup where the Islanders took the defeat by a tally of 4 - 3. In this outing, New York wound up with a 50.0% Corsi rating. They got to that percentage by earning a Corsi of 47 while their opponent had a Corsi of 47. They had a Fenwick percentage of 50.6% with a Fenwick of 40 and the Senators finishing with a 39 Fenwick. This Corsi percentage speaks to the kind of game that New York played and you could say that they didn't play great, but weren't awful either. Their PDO at even strength was 92.2 and their percentage of oZS was 61.9%. The Islanders netted 3 goals of the 40 shots on goal they took. They had 4 power play attempts in this one and were able to convert 1 out of those opportunities. As for the opposition, the Senators had 3 power play opportunities but were not able to notch a goal. New York gave way to 29 shots on goal and the Senators had 8 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's NHL game ATS?

Josh's Pick: Take New York (-135)

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