The New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets are playing decent hockey but it’s too little too late for them to make a playoff push with the Eastern Conference teams essentially set, aside from seeding. The Boston Bruins are looking to get back in the win column and take advantage of a juicy matchup against the New Jersey Devils.
Moneyline: New York Islanders (-200) vs Columbus Blue Jackets (+170)
This will be the second of a home-and-home series between these two teams that saw the Islanders come away with a narrow 4-3 victory. The Islanders are turning to Semyon Varlamov in the crease with Ilya Sorokin on the shelf due to an upper-body injury. It is undetermined when Sorokin will be back so until then Varlamov should continue to see the bulk of the starts and stopped 42 of 45 shots against Columbus.
New York is much more successful when playing at home with a 17-13-4 record, which is where this one will be played, while the Blue Jackets own a below .500 win percentage on the road. The Blue Jackets are also poor against teams in their own division with an 8-14-0 record and are on a four-game losing streak entering this game. Brock Nelson remains red hot with goals in four straight games and is coming off a multi-game performance last game. With the starting goalies likely not differing from the last game between these two, it should end in a similar result.
Moneyline: Boston Bruins (-275) vs New Jersey Devils (+225)
The Bruins are coming off an emotional game at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs that ended in a 6-4 loss. They will be looking to bounce back on home ice where they have been solid this season posting a 20-11-2 record. Linus Ullmark relieved Jeremey Swayman in goal last game after he allowed six goals on 25 shots leading head coach Bruce Cassidy to turn to Ullmark in goal for this one. Ullmark is 20-9-2 on the year and has won his last three starts.
The Devils are a sneaky fast team with some highly skilled players but will be up against a Bruins defense that ranks sixth in the league in goals allowed per game. The Devils are also entering the game riding an eight-game road losing streak with a very bad 8-23-2 away record. David Pastrnak has four goals in his last three outings, while Taylor Hall also has points in each of his last three games. The Bruins’ top-six can score in bunches and will be a handful for either Nico Daws or Jon Gillies.
Odds via BetMGM and Yahoo
