Grab This +160 Play In The NHL

Islanders vs. Canucks, 10:00 ET

It hasn't been a spectacular stretch for me in my Outkick Bets lately. I did fine in college basketball yesterday and had a lot of good leans or plays for the Outkick Bets Podcast with Geoff Clark in the NBA. But, I wasn't even close on the college football play from yesterday and also was way off on my last NHL play. The good thing is we get to rebound right away. Sports happen each day so that's another opportunity for us to take a win home. Tonight, I've circled a game between the Islanders and Canucks.

The Islanders were the team that kind of screwed me over in my last NHL play. In that game, I was willing to take the over. Ultimately, the Islanders offense which has struggled quite a bit lately continued to struggle. It isn't just the offense though, they've allowed at least four goals in each of their past five games, all losses. I discussed how many shots the Islanders are allowing on their goalies and that is probably the biggest issue. They are allowing 34.4 shots against their goalie per game. You can't expect them to stop that many goals each game. The offense is getting almost an equal number of shots per game. They are at 31.3 shot attempts per game, which is good, but they are averaging fewer than two goals over their past five games. Ilya Sorokin is probably going to be in the net and it hasn't been a great stretch for him. He has had to face at least 30 shots in his past seven starts, and he has allowed at least three goals in six of those starts. If the offense can jump out to an early lead, they might be able to make Sorokin more comfortable in the net. Sometimes goalies try to be too perfect when their team is struggling. I don't think he is trying to be perfect, but I think he realizes that the margin for error is small.

The Islanders are on a five-game losing streak and have to take on one of the hottest teams in the NHL this season, the Canucks. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Canucks are on the opposite side of the spectrum. They are having a great start to the season. So far, they are 11-3-1 including a stellar 5-0-1 on their home ice. Elias Pettersson is having a great season with 25 points already and he doesn't even lead the team in goals. The Canucks have been off since Sunday and are coming home from a road trip. They have won four of their past five games and are clearly in good form, something that has been apparent since the beginning of the season. Also, in their win this season, they have won nine of the 11 by the puck line, including the past seven victories. They are likely putting Thatcher Demko in the net to try and stop the Islanders. I know that New York isn't playing very well right now, but they shouldn't be taken for granted. Demko is coming off of his worst start of the season - he allowed five goals to the Maple Leafs. Toronto has a better offense than the Islanders, but you also don't want the Islanders to start getting confidence. I think Demko probably responds here as he has two home shutouts on the season and has only allowed five goals on his home ice.

Tonight, we get a Canucks team that is playing very well and has a goalie in good form. Sure, the last game wasn't great, but he should be fine in this one as he returns to home ice. I also think that we need to pounce on the Islanders while they are down. They won't lose all their games, but this is going to be a tough victory to pull out. I'll take the Canucks on the puck line. We've seen that Vancouver has done a great job of not playing in close games. I think this is another one. I'll take the Canucks -1.5 at +160.

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