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The first face-to-face meeting of the current championship ended with a real defeat of New Jersey with a score of 0:6. However, since that moment, Sheldon Keogh's team has improved significantly and has now won seven times in eight matches. The Islanders look much less confident. The hosts suffered two defeats in a row, and in the last meeting they failed to hold on to a draw against Carolina. At the same time, the New Yorkers' offense is gradually becoming more diverse, despite the absence of several important hockey players. In our betting tip, we will analyze the current state of the rivals and choose a bet for the upcoming meeting
Command Analysis
New York Islanders
The absence of Matthew Barzal and Ryan Pulock continues to complicate the Islanders' situation. Peter Deboer's team often has difficulty organizing attacks, and against strong opponents they have to spend a lot of time in their own zone. For example, recently the hosts could not do much against Edmonton and lost with a score of 0.:4. Before that, however, they managed to beat Nashville (4:3 B) and Minnesota (4:3 OT).
In the last meeting with Carolina, the New Yorkers won back twice after a bad start. Mitchell Chaffee, Brayden Schenn and Victor Eklund helped restore the 3-3 tie, but in the third period the opponent took the lead again. After that, the Hurricanes hit an empty net and won 5:3. Despite the defeat, Schenn and Eklund scored two points each, and Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves.
New Jersey Devils
New Jersey is in great shape right now, having won seven of the previous eight matches. The victories over Dallas (5:1) and Vegas (5:2) were especially important, when the team confidently coped with dangerous opponents on the road. Jack Hughes continues to deliver results offensively, and after Connor Hellebuyck's move, the goaltending line has improved markedly. The Canadian won all four meetings for the new team.
However, the last match against St. Louis turned out to be much more difficult. After two periods, the Devils led 4-1 thanks to goals from Luke Hughes, Anthony Manta and Jesper Boqvist. However, in the final twenty minutes, the guests managed to score three times in just over three minutes and restored equality. Jesper Bratt had to save the situation, scoring the winning goal in overtime. The final 5-4 success extended New Jersey's streak to three consecutive wins.
The main advantage of New Jersey now is the variety of attacks. Hughes remains one of the team's most dangerous players, but other links regularly bring results. It is especially important that the guests have learned to achieve victories even in those meetings where there are serious problems with defense. The match against St. Louis was a good example: the lost advantage did not prevent the team from gathering and taking two points. The Islanders do not have such stability yet, and the absence of several important players further limits the possibilities of the hosts.
Of course, the first face-to-face meeting of the season remains an unpleasant memory for the Devils, but the current state of the rivals is noticeably different from the October one. The Islanders are able to impose a fight, especially thanks to the active play of Schenn and Eklund. But the guests look more convincing in the attack and have a large number of performers who can decide the outcome of the meeting. We expect a difficult confrontation, in which the advantage in class and current form will allow New Jersey to take revenge.
Our prediction is that New Jersey will win the match in 1.82
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