Islanders vs Chicago. NHL match prediction and bets

Current form

The Isles are trying hard to cling to a playoff spot in the East, but the competition in the bottom half of the table is very high. New York is in ninth place with 29 points after 30 starts. The Islanders played very poorly in November, but since the beginning of winter they have improved their quality of play and have earned more than half of the points in six games this winter. Patrick Roy team sensationally beat Carolina (4:3) at home, and then celebrated success in Ottawa (4:2). Returning home, the Orange were unable to put up a fight against Los Angeles (1:3), which played great defense. At the start of the second period, the hosts were down two goals and scored only one accurate shot in 60 minutes.

New York is no longer the lowest scoring team in the conference, but the Islanders still look pretty lackluster on offense. They have only made 12 shots in their last five games, while the club top scorer is only 58th in the league overall list. Anders Lee, as captain, has made a big contribution to the result and has made 24 effective actions (13+11).

After Semyon Varlamov injury, Ilya Sorokin is the only player on the ice, and this season will be his fifth since moving from the KHL. The Russian has made only one shutout and has saved 91.19% of shots, improving this figure over the past few weeks.

Disqualifications and injuries

Adam Pelech, Anthony Duclair, Mike Rielly, Matthew Barzal and Semyon Varlamov are all out, while Scott Mayfield status is questionable.

Interesting trends for betting

• The Islanders are winning 54.8 percent of their faceoffs.

The Islanders are good at this metric and take most of the faceoffs.

• The hosts earn only 5.04 penalty minutes per match.

New York takes very few penalties and plays with extreme discipline.

Current form

Chicago has not approached the playoff zone and is fighting for the penultimate place in the conference, where the team from Illinois currently is. The Blackhawks have only 20 points in their bank after 29 games. Anders Sorensen charges could not score points for five games in a row, but broke this streak upon arrival in New York. Earlier, the Hawks lost on home ice to Boston (2:4) and Winnipeg (2:4), after which they won against the Rangers (2:1) at Madison Square Garden. The visitors quickly opened the scoring, but conceded in the majority, but were able to take the lead again and did not miss a positive result for themselves.

Chicago main problem is their weak attack. On average, the Blackhawks have scored only 2.43 goals per game this season, and even the big names on the roster have not helped improve the situation. Connor Bedard is the only Illinois player among the league top 100 scorers. The Canadian has 21 points (5+16) in the goal+pass system.

Arvid Soderblom is trying to earn the trust of his teammates while Petr Mrazek and Leon Brossoit are out. The Swedish goalie has stopped 92.08% of the shots he faces in his own area and has yet to keep a clean sheet in his NHL career.

Disqualifications and injuries

Leon Brossoit, Seth Jones, Alec Martinez, Petr Mrazek and Craig Smith will not take part in the upcoming fight.

Interesting trends for betting

• Chicago gets 7.25 penalty minutes per game.

The team has not been particularly disciplined this season and has often been sent off more than three times.

• The Hawks are allowing opponents to shoot 30 times per game on average.

The visitors play second fiddle and rarely outshoot their opponents.