Islanders vs Canucks NHL Line & Handicapping
Struggling Teams Do Battle Monday Night – Canucks Host Islanders
Two of the worst teams in the NHL the past 14 games meet in Vancouver Monday night when the New York Islanders who are 3-9-2 in their last 14 games take on the Vancouver Canucks who are 3-11-1 in their last 14 contests.
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NY Islanders (24-33-5-4) at Vancouver (29-27-3-7)
When: 10:00 PM ET, Monday, March 10, 2014
Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia
Broadcast: MSG PLUS, SNET-P
Isles vs. Canucks Betting Lines
New York Islanders +1½ -205 +150 Ov 5½ +113
Vancouver Canucks -1½ +175 -165 Un 5½ -125
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Not a whole lot has gone right for either team lately but Vancouver is coming off a 2-1 win Saturday against the Calgary Flames. New York enters having blown third period leads in the last two games of their current road trip – losing in Calgary and in Edmonton. Vancouver won the only meeting of the clubs so far this season – 5-4 in overtime on Long Island October 22.
The New York Islanders find themselves in an all-too familiar race for first overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft. Life without John Tavares has been miserable so far for a team that on paper needs absolutely everyone to overachieve in order to be competitive.
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The Islanders enter Monday’s game with an OK offense averaging 2.65 goals per game. Anders Lee, Michael Grabner and Colin McDonald each have three points in their last three games, Thomas Hickey has two points in two games and Cal Clutterbuck has three points in four games. The offense is doing its job but defense and goaltending particularly late in games is letting the team down.
New York needs to find a way to keep up the intensity in the third period of games – they have allowed a league high 77 goals this season and have won only nine of 20 games in which they held the lead heading into the third period. As a whole the Isles allow a staggering 3.33 goals per game – among the worst in the NHL. Evgeni Nabokov is 1-1-1 in his last three starts with a 4.39 GAA and .829 save percentage – not good at all!
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The Vancouver Canucks gained a little confidence with their win Saturday night but they have a ton of room for improvement. However the Canucks registered only 14 shots on goal and were largely outplayed by the Flames in that game.
The slumps on this team are absolutely stunning. Alex Burrows has gone 34 games without a goals and he is pointless in his last seven games overall, Henrik Sedin hasn’t scored in 20 games and hasn’t registered a point in 12 games, Chris Higgins is pointless in four games and Ryan Kesler has failed to register a point in his last four games as well. The Canucks have scored just 11 goals in their last 10 games overall – Ugly!
Don’t blame Eddie Lack for Vancouver’s recent struggles – outside of one brutal outing he has been good. Lack has given up one goal or less in five of his last seven starts and has a 1.79 GAA over that span. His record is 2-4-1 in those games – he needs some support and could get it Monday against one of the worst defensive clubs in the game.
Dave’s FREE NHL Betting Prediction
A few trends to consider:
• Over is 8-2 in NYI last 10 Mon. games.
• Over is 6-2 in NYI last 8 overall.
• NYI are 8-23 in their last 31 vs. Pacific.
• VAN are 0-8 in their last 8 vs. Eastern Conference.
• Under is 15-4-3 in VAN last 22 Mon. games.
• VAN are 6-20 in their last 26 overall.
• Over is 6-2-1 in the last 9 meetings.
It is pretty hard to like either team ahead of the Monday night showdown but I am leaning toward the team that can and will score. It helps when looking at the price that you can get that team at. Take the Islanders to further add to the misery of the Canucks Monday night in a tight, low scoring game.
Pick: New York Islanders +150
