by Chuck Sommers
Saturday, Feb 18, 2023
Time: 5 p.m. ET
Venue: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Where to watch: MSGSN, NESN
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Bruins -240, Islanders +200
FanDuel: Bruins -240, Islanders +195
BetMGM: NL
Caesars: Bruins -233, Islanders +192
Season record
Islanders: 28-23-7
Bruins: 41-8-5
The All-Star break is over, the second half of the NHL season can officially begin, and we're bound for what should be a very exciting second half of the hockey season. Basketball and hockey are about to rule the roost in the sports betting world once the Super Bowl is done with, and we should all be very excited for what's to come. When the trade deadline hits and players switch teams, you know things are about to get hectic over these final 30 games or so. One way you can stay tuned with the action is following what our champion handicappers are doing in the world of the NHL. Look at ASA, Inc., reeling in a $6,750 profit off a 17-9-0 run. Al McMordie is also doing well on the ice with a 13-5-0 run and a net profit of $6,050. Scott Rickenbach has also been hanging strong with a lot of betting action, in what's been an unusual year, with a 24-18-0 run and reeling in $5,950. You know this action is going to be great now that games are back and a busy second half if on the horizon. All you need to do is head to our BEST BETS page at bigal.com to find out all of what we're trying to tell you. Make sure you're locked in at bigal.com and go to our Best Bets page to find out what our champion handicappers have to say in the world of the NHL!
Islanders - Bruins preview, prediction and analysis
Recent results
Islanders: won 5-4 vs. Penguins
Bruins: won 5-0 at Predators
The New York Islanders will be playing the Boston Bruins on Saturday, February 18 in Boston, Massachusetts.
The New York Islanders won against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, February 17 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York with a score of 5-4. The New York Islanders currently rank 6th in the Metropolitan Division.
Anders Lee and Brock Nelson each had two goals and an assist, and Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves for the Islanders (28-23-7), who ended a three-game skid (0-1-2) and moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference. They visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
"We all look at the standings. We knew the importance going into the game," Zach Parise said. "We have teams that are climbing behind us with games in hand and we have teams we're trying to catch. There's just not a lot of room for error for us right now."
Crosby gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 12:00 of the first period. Lee tied it 1-1 with his 20th goal at 13:56 when he backhanded the puck off the chest of DeSmith, who was lying on his back.
After two more goals by the Penguins, Nelson cut it to 3-2 when he scored on a wraparound at 14:25. He has scored four straight games and has a 12-game point streak (16 points; nine goals, seven assists).
Rickard Rakell scored again at 18:57 off a backhand feed from Crosby to make it 4-2, but Lee cut it to 4-3 just 35 seconds later with his second goal, a redirection of Mathew Barzal's wrist shot at 19:32.
Nelson tied it 4-4 on a one-timer from Noah Dobson.
"It's been a while since we had a couple-goal deficits where we came back and won," Nelson said. "Taking advantage of key moments, power play being one of them. That was huge."
Zach Parise broke a tie with 2:43 remaining in the third period. After Brock Nelson tied it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 5:01 of the third, Parise, playing his 1,200th NHL game, put New York in front when he redirected Nelson's backdoor feed.
"It couldn't have been a more fitting end," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said.
The New York Islanders have won five of their last 10 games.
The Boston Bruins won against the Nashville Predators last Thursday, February 16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee with a score of 5-0. The Boston Bruins currently rank 1st in the Atlantic Division.
Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves for the Bruins.
"It's really hard to get wins in this league, let alone shutouts," Swayman said. "It's a team effort. The guys in front of me made it possible, so I couldn't have done it without them."
It was Swayman's second shutout of the season and seventh in the NHL; he made 42 saves in a 2-0 win against the Predators on Dec. 2, 2021.
"[Nashville] is definitely one you circle on the calendar, definitely a fun city to come visit," he said. "They played a good game and I'm really happy with the two points."
Patrice Bergeron had a goal and an assist, and Nick Foligno and Hampus Lindholm each had two assists for the Bruins (41-8-5), who have won two straight, including a 3-2 overtime victory against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, following a 1-3-1 stretch.
"We're trying to stick to the process," said Bergeron, who is Boston's captain. "I think these last two games are more how we want to play, especially [in Dallas]. We want to build from that. We're aware there are going to be some dips in the season, and it's about being aware and committed to rectifying things sooner rather than later and I was pleased with this (two-game) road trip."
Brad Marchand gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 2:54 of the first period, scoring on a give-and-go with Bergeron. Craig Smith made it 2-0 at 1:11 of the second period when he chipped his own rebound before the puck went in off the stick of Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. Bergeron then extended it to 3-0 at 8:06, scoring on a stretch pass by Lindholm for a power-play goal.
The Bruins entered Thursday with the seventh-best power play in the NHL (24.2 percent) but were 0-for-20 in their previous six games with the man-advantage.
"We had some good movement [on the power play]," Bergeron said. "We created some momentum out of it. You're not always going to score on it, but at least if you are able to create some chances, you give your team a boost and I thought we did that."
Derek Forbort made it 4-0 at 11:15 when his pass intended for Charlie Coyle in front deflected off the stick of Lauzon. Trent Frederic redirected a spinning pass by Foligno at 13:47 of the third period for the 5-0 final.
"It was nice to get a game where we not only got the lead, but extended it like we did," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "I thought Bergeron and our fourth line (Frederic, A.J. Greer and Jakub Lauko) did a lot of great things tonight.
"Our best player was Swayman because they had a lot of good looks and he was patient on his feet, made a lot of shoulder saves, glove saves and didn't give up any rebounds."
The Boston Bruins have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
The Islanders being on a back-to-back and facing the best team in the league, one night after Sorokin got taxed, doesn't bode well. Bruins 4, Islanders 2
The New York Islanders will be playing the Boston Bruins on Saturday, February 18 in Boston, Massachusetts.
The New York Islanders won against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, February 17 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York with a score of 5-4. The New York Islanders currently rank 6th in the Metropolitan Division.
Anders Lee and Brock Nelson each had two goals and an assist, and Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves for the Islanders (28-23-7), who ended a three-game skid (0-1-2) and moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the two wild cards in the Eastern Conference. They visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
"We all look at the standings. We knew the importance going into the game," Zach Parise said. "We have teams that are climbing behind us with games in hand and we have teams we're trying to catch. There's just not a lot of room for error for us right now."
Crosby gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 12:00 of the first period. Lee tied it 1-1 with his 20th goal at 13:56 when he backhanded the puck off the chest of DeSmith, who was lying on his back.
After two more goals by the Penguins, Nelson cut it to 3-2 when he scored on a wraparound at 14:25. He has scored four straight games and has a 12-game point streak (16 points; nine goals, seven assists).
Rickard Rakell scored again at 18:57 off a backhand feed from Crosby to make it 4-2, but Lee cut it to 4-3 just 35 seconds later with his second goal, a redirection of Mathew Barzal's wrist shot at 19:32.
Nelson tied it 4-4 on a one-timer from Noah Dobson.
"It's been a while since we had a couple-goal deficits where we came back and won," Nelson said. "Taking advantage of key moments, power play being one of them. That was huge."
Zach Parise broke a tie with 2:43 remaining in the third period. After Brock Nelson tied it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 5:01 of the third, Parise, playing his 1,200th NHL game, put New York in front when he redirected Nelson's backdoor feed.
"It couldn't have been a more fitting end," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said.
The New York Islanders have won five of their last 10 games.
The Boston Bruins won against the Nashville Predators last Thursday, February 16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee with a score of 5-0. The Boston Bruins currently rank 1st in the Atlantic Division.
Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves for the Bruins.
"It's really hard to get wins in this league, let alone shutouts," Swayman said. "It's a team effort. The guys in front of me made it possible, so I couldn't have done it without them."
It was Swayman's second shutout of the season and seventh in the NHL; he made 42 saves in a 2-0 win against the Predators on Dec. 2, 2021.
"[Nashville] is definitely one you circle on the calendar, definitely a fun city to come visit," he said. "They played a good game and I'm really happy with the two points."
Patrice Bergeron had a goal and an assist, and Nick Foligno and Hampus Lindholm each had two assists for the Bruins (41-8-5), who have won two straight, including a 3-2 overtime victory against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, following a 1-3-1 stretch.
"We're trying to stick to the process," said Bergeron, who is Boston's captain. "I think these last two games are more how we want to play, especially [in Dallas]. We want to build from that. We're aware there are going to be some dips in the season, and it's about being aware and committed to rectifying things sooner rather than later and I was pleased with this (two-game) road trip."
Brad Marchand gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 2:54 of the first period, scoring on a give-and-go with Bergeron. Craig Smith made it 2-0 at 1:11 of the second period when he chipped his own rebound before the puck went in off the stick of Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. Bergeron then extended it to 3-0 at 8:06, scoring on a stretch pass by Lindholm for a power-play goal.
The Bruins entered Thursday with the seventh-best power play in the NHL (24.2 percent) but were 0-for-20 in their previous six games with the man-advantage.
"We had some good movement [on the power play]," Bergeron said. "We created some momentum out of it. You're not always going to score on it, but at least if you are able to create some chances, you give your team a boost and I thought we did that."
Derek Forbort made it 4-0 at 11:15 when his pass intended for Charlie Coyle in front deflected off the stick of Lauzon. Trent Frederic redirected a spinning pass by Foligno at 13:47 of the third period for the 5-0 final.
"It was nice to get a game where we not only got the lead, but extended it like we did," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "I thought Bergeron and our fourth line (Frederic, A.J. Greer and Jakub Lauko) did a lot of great things tonight.
"Our best player was Swayman because they had a lot of good looks and he was patient on his feet, made a lot of shoulder saves, glove saves and didn't give up any rebounds."
The Boston Bruins have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
The Islanders being on a back-to-back and facing the best team in the league, one night after Sorokin got taxed, doesn't bode well. Bruins 4, Islanders 2
Betting trends
Islanders are 7-7 revenging a home loss this season.
Islanders are 8-2 revenging a loss by 3 goals or more this season.
Bruins are 18-3 after a non-conference game this season.
Bruins are 22-5 after winning 3 of 4 this season.
Projected lines
Islanders:
Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Zach Parise -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Josh Bailey -- Casey Cizikas -- Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin -- Otto Koivula -- Hudson Fasching
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov -- Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho -- Noah Dobson
Semyon Varlamov
Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Mathew Barzal
Zach Parise -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Josh Bailey -- Casey Cizikas -- Simon Holmstrom
Matt Martin -- Otto Koivula -- Hudson Fasching
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov -- Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho -- Noah Dobson
Semyon Varlamov
Bruins:
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Craig Smith
Pavel Zacha -- David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall -- Charlie Coyle -- Nick Foligno
A.J. Greer -- Trent Frederic -- Jakub Lauko
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Craig Smith
Pavel Zacha -- David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall -- Charlie Coyle -- Nick Foligno
A.J. Greer -- Trent Frederic -- Jakub Lauko
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
