New York Islanders vs Vegas Golden Knights Predictions, NHL Expert Picks 2/15/2020

Game: New York Islanders vs Vegas Golden Knights

Date: Saturday, February 15, 2020

Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV

TV: ATRM

Odds/Point Spread: Islanders (+153) Golden Knights (-170)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

T-Mobile Arena is the venue where Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights (29-22-8, 3rd in the Pacific Division) will play the New York Islanders (33-17-6, 3rd in the Metropolitan Division) on Saturday. The Golden Knights open this matchup at -170 while the Islanders are coming in at +153. The total opens at 5.5. The Islanders are covering 56.6% of the time, having gone 30-23 SU. The Golden Knights are covering 46.4% of the time, going 26-30 straight up.

The New York Islanders head into this game holding a record of 33 wins and 17 losses, which is good for 3rd in the Metropolitan Division. During the season thus far, they have converted a total of 163 goals which is 12th in the conference and 21st in the league. Their goal differential is +9, which is good for 13th in the league. The Islanders have earned a total of 72 pts, which is 6th in the league and 5th in the conference. When looking at shots on goal, they have earned a total of 1,650 which is 15th in the Eastern Conference and 29th in the league. As a unit, New York has compiled a total of 1,522 hits which means they have an average of 27.2 per game. They have earned a total of 828 blocks for the year. In goal for New York is Semyon Varlamov from Kuybyshev, USSR. He is 31 years old and has totaled 1,943 mins minding the net for the year. Varlamov is surrendering 2.59 GAA which has him placed 10th in the Eastern Conference and 17th among goalies in the NHL. For the season, he has given up 84 goals. His save percentage is .915 which has him placed 10th in the Eastern Conference.

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The New York Islanders were on the losing side of the ice with a 5 - 0 loss to the Nashville Predators in their previous game. The Islanders had an offensive game that was below their expectations in this defeat. For this outing, they finished 0 out of the 31 shots they put on goal. Additionally, they had 2 power play chances but weren't able to score a goal. New York ended up with 5 penalty mins while out there on the ice. The Corsi for the Islanders was 55 and the Corsi against was 67 which tells us they had a Corsi percentage of 45.1%. Their Fenwick sat at 38 and the Fenwick against was 46, meaning they had a rate of 45.2%. They won 19 face-off wins at even strength and lost 28 of the face-offs. Their starts in the offensive zone came in at 45.2% and they had a PDO of 80.0 in this one. Regarding their opponent, the Nashville Predators racked up 26 shots. They finished with 9 penalty minutes and they earned 1 power play chance.

The Golden Knights will be on the other side of the ice and for the current year they have 29 wins and 22 losses. With reference to goal differential, they currently sit 5th in the West and 16th in the league with +4. They have compiled a total of 185 goals for the year which is 3rd in the West. Vegas has a team save percentage of .898 which has them sitting 24th in the league, which tells us scoring chances could be plentiful if they are aggressive. They are shooting 9.1% which is good for 9th in the West. In net for Vegas is Marc-Andre Fleury who is having an average campaign by surrendering 2.87 goals per game and that has him ranked 15th in the West and 35th among goalies in the NHL. In the 2,401 mins he's been on the ice, he has surrendered 115 goals. He's earned a save percentage of .904, which has him ranking 24th in the West and 46th among goalies in the NHL.

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The Vegas Golden Knights faced off against the St. Louis Blues in a matchup where the Golden Knights earned a win by a final of 6 - 5. In this matchup, Vegas earned a 68.4% Corsi rating. They wound up with that percentage by having a Corsi of 67 while the opposition earned a Corsi of 31. They earned a Fenwick percentage of 67.1% by earning a Fenwick of 51 and the Blues having a 25 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Vegas played and it was a good performance overall. Their PDO at even strength was 81.3 and their percentage of oZS was 66.9%. The Golden Knights notched 6 goals out of the 52 shots on goal they were seeking. They had 5 power play attempts in this one and converted 4 out of those tries. As for the opposition, the Blues had 2 power play attempts but were not able to take advantage. Vegas allowed 24 shots on goal and the Blues earned a total of 12 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take New York (+153)

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