New York Islanders vs Washington Capitals Predictions, Picks, Betting Tips 8/20/2020

Game: New York Islanders vs Washington Capitals

Date: Thursday, August 20, 2020

Location: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON

TV: NBCSN

Odds/Point Spread: Islanders (-115) Capitals (-108)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Scotiabank Arena is the venue where Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals will take on the New York Islanders on Thursday in Game 5 of their series. The Islanders lead 3-1. The Capitals open this game at -108 while the Islanders are priced at -115. The over/under is set at 5.5. The Islanders cover 49.2% of the time, having gone 32-33 SU. Washington is covering 56.9% of the time, going 37-28 straight up.

The Islanders will be looking to get a win in their next outing after their 3 - 2 defeat to the Capitals in Game 4. The Islanders could have played much better offensively in this loss. For the matchup, they converted 2 out of the 26 shots they looked to score on. Furthermore, they had 5 power play opportunities but weren't able to notch a goal in these power play chances. New York ended up with a total of 12 penalty mins for this game. The Corsi for the Islanders sat at 31 and the Corsi against was 53 telling us they have a Corsi percentage of 36.9%. Their Fenwick sat at 22 and the Fenwick against sat at 42, giving them a rate of 34.4%. They took 18 face-off wins and were beaten on 17 of the face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 39.5% and they had a PDO of 105.2 in this one. When it comes to their opponent, the Washington Capitals earned a total of 29 shots. They had 14 penalty mins and they tallied 5 power play attempts.

The New York Islanders head into this game holding a record of 35 victories and 23 defeats, which puts them at 6th in the Metropolitan Division. Thus far in the season, they have racked up a total of 189 goals which ranks them 13th in the conference and 24th in the NHL. Their goal differential is -1, which puts them at 19th in the NHL. The Islanders currently have a total of 80 points, which ranks them 14th in the NHL and 9th in the East. When it comes to shots toward the net, they currently have a total of 2,016 which ranks them 15th in the conference and 30th in the NHL. As a unit, New York has obtained a total of 1,839 hits which has them averaging 27 per game. They currently have a total of 980 blocks for the year. Protecting the net for New York is Semyon Varlamov from Kuybyshev, USSR. He is 31 years old and has racked up 2,517 mins defending the goal for the campaign. Varlamov is allowing 2.62 goals against average which places him at 11th in the East and 18th in the NHL among goalies. So far this season, he's allowed 110 goals. His save percentage is .914 which places him at 12th in the East.

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In Game 4 Washington wound up with a 63.1% Corsi rating. They wound up with that percentage by having a Corsi of 53 while they conceded a Corsi of 31. They had a Fenwick percentage of 65.6% by earning a Fenwick of 42 and the Islanders earning a 22 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Washington had and you can say they had a mediocre outing. They had a PDO at even strength of 94.8 and they finished this one with an oZS percentage of 60.5%. The Capitals notched 3 goals out of the 29 shots on goal they took. They had 5 power play chances in this outing and scored 1 out of those attempts. As for their opponent, the Islanders had 5 power play chances but were not able to score a goal. Washington gave way to 26 shots on goal and the Islanders had a total of 12 penalty mins.

The Capitals are the team on the other side of the ice and for the campaign they have 41 wins and 20 defeats. When it comes to goal differential, they are currently sitting 5th in the East and 7th in the NHL with +24. They have earned a total of 236 goals for the year which has them ranked at 3rd in the conference. Washington has a save percentage as a team of .898 which currently has them ranked 28th in the NHL, which tells us there could be plenty of chances to score if they attack the goal. They are shooting 10.7% which is good for 2nd in the Eastern Conference. In goal for Washington is Braden Holtby who is having a bad campaign by surrendering 3.11 GAA and that has him ranked 25th among Eastern Conference goalies and 53rd among goalies in the NHL. In the 2,743 minutes he's played this season, he has surrendered 142 goals. He holds a save % of .897, which has him ranking 30th among Eastern Conference goalies and 58th among goalies in the NHL.

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

Tony's Pick: Take New York (-115)

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