by Chuck Sommers
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2023
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Venue: UBS Arena, Elmont, NY
Where to watch: MSGSN, SN
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Islanders -120, Jets +100
FanDuel: Islanders -120, Jets +100
BetMGM: Islanders -125, Jets +105
Caesars: Islanders -120, Jets +100
Season record
Jets: 35-21-1
Islanders: 29-24-7
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!
Jets - Islanders preview, prediction and analysis
The Winnipeg Jets will be playing the New York Islanders on Wednesday, February 22 in New York.
The Winnipeg Jets won against the New York Rangers on Monday, February 20 at Madison Square Garden in New York with a score of 4-1. The Winnipeg Jets currently rank 2nd in the Central Division.
Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves, one shy of his NHL career high, for the Winnipeg Jets.
“[Hellebuyck] was outstanding tonight," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "We needed that kind of performance from our goalie tonight. You talk about timely saves, there were a lot of them tonight, and timely goals."
Hellebuyck was starting on consecutive nights after making 25 saves in a 4-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
"He was incredible," Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said. "They're aggressive offensively. He was unbelievable and looked so solid in there. I didn't think anything was going to beat him clean. It was impressive. Everything was sticking to him. I thought we did a good job battling in front to let him see the puck. When he sees it, he's going to stop it. That's a pretty special performance. 50 shots I think it was at the end. He was insane tonight like he's been all year."
Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists, and Mark Scheifele scored two goals for the Jets (35-21-1), who had lost two straight. Morrissey and Mason Appleton each had two assists.
Pierre-Luc Dubois gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 5:12 of the first period on the power play when he tipped in Morrissey's shot from the high slot. Morrissey has 58 points (11 goals, 47 assists) in 57 games this season, passing Dustin Byfuglien (56 points in 78 games in 2013-14) for the most in a season by a defenseman in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history.
"[The record] means a lot," Morrissey said. "I'm more worried about how we're doing as a team and how we're playing. But when you remove that and look at it, especially considering the relationship I had with 'Buff' and him being my first partner when I came into the League, I credit a lot of the confidence I had early in my career to playing with him and his attitude. It definitely means a lot to me, and it's a function of opportunity and us having a great team and great players that make my job easy. Just have to get them the puck and good things happen."
Scheifele made it 2-0 at 16:32, knocking in a rebound at the right post shortly after a Rangers' power play expired.
"We had to crank up our intensity," Bowness said. "We had to start working a lot harder tonight. The guys responded."
Connor extended it to 3-0 at 6:04 of the second period with a quick shot from the left hash marks.
After the Rangers got a goal in, Scheifele scored on a backhand in the slot at 15:29 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
"He got it back, good response," Bowness said of Scheifele's turnover that led to Trocheck's goal. "He gave it up but then it's get it back. So he gets two. Those are big goals for us.
"[The Rangers] are a highly skilled team. There are three or four lines coming at you, and they're a high shot volume team. We kind of expected it. We probably gave up a few extra shots than we needed to give up with our puck management, which got us into trouble."
The Winnipeg Jets have won five of their last 10 games.
The New York Islanders won against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, February 20 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a score of 4-2. The New York Islanders currently rank 4th in the Metropolitan Division.
Ilya Sorokin made 44 saves for the Islanders (29-24-7), who also came back from down one in the third to defeat the Penguins 5-4 at home on Friday.
New York was playing its first game without forward Mathew Barzal, who is out week to week with a lower-body injury.
"We needed our goalie to be good. He was," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "We have a great rivalry with this team. The way the game ended the other night in New York, I expected this to be a hard-fought game. We're both fighting for points."
After Pittsburgh scored the first goal 6:12 in, Brock Nelson tied it 1-1 at 5:19 of the second period, electing to shoot the puck blocker side from the right circle on a 2-on-1 for his 25th goal of the season.
Jason Zucker responded for the Penguins on a power play to make it 2-1 at 12:26.
New York was outshot 37-24 in the first two periods before scoring three times in the third.
"Belief. We believe we have done it before and we believed we could do it again," Horvat said. "Especially in the second half of that second period, we were starting to come. We were starting to gain momentum. I think it just carried on to the third period there."
Bo Horvat tied it 2-2 at 8:34 when he scored from a sharp angle below the right circle after Hudson Fasching jumped up to keep the puck in at the blue line.
Anders Lee then put the Islanders in front 3-2 at 10:15, receiving a pass from Matt Martin on his backhand and tucking the puck inside the right post with his forehand. The play started after Tristan Jarry passed the puck to Horvat behind the net.
"This team, say whatever you want about us, but we're going to battle and we're going to fight until the end," Lee said. "That's a full team win. Really proud of our guys tonight. It could've gone another way, and we pushed through. We took control and we were able to come out with just a big win."
Brock Nelson scored his second of the game into an empty net with 25 seconds left for the 4-2 final.
The New York Islanders have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
Goaltending battles have never looked so epic. Give me the home team. Islanders 2, Jets 1
The Winnipeg Jets won against the New York Rangers on Monday, February 20 at Madison Square Garden in New York with a score of 4-1. The Winnipeg Jets currently rank 2nd in the Central Division.
Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves, one shy of his NHL career high, for the Winnipeg Jets.
“[Hellebuyck] was outstanding tonight," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "We needed that kind of performance from our goalie tonight. You talk about timely saves, there were a lot of them tonight, and timely goals."
Hellebuyck was starting on consecutive nights after making 25 saves in a 4-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
"He was incredible," Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey said. "They're aggressive offensively. He was unbelievable and looked so solid in there. I didn't think anything was going to beat him clean. It was impressive. Everything was sticking to him. I thought we did a good job battling in front to let him see the puck. When he sees it, he's going to stop it. That's a pretty special performance. 50 shots I think it was at the end. He was insane tonight like he's been all year."
Kyle Connor had a goal and two assists, and Mark Scheifele scored two goals for the Jets (35-21-1), who had lost two straight. Morrissey and Mason Appleton each had two assists.
Pierre-Luc Dubois gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 5:12 of the first period on the power play when he tipped in Morrissey's shot from the high slot. Morrissey has 58 points (11 goals, 47 assists) in 57 games this season, passing Dustin Byfuglien (56 points in 78 games in 2013-14) for the most in a season by a defenseman in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history.
"[The record] means a lot," Morrissey said. "I'm more worried about how we're doing as a team and how we're playing. But when you remove that and look at it, especially considering the relationship I had with 'Buff' and him being my first partner when I came into the League, I credit a lot of the confidence I had early in my career to playing with him and his attitude. It definitely means a lot to me, and it's a function of opportunity and us having a great team and great players that make my job easy. Just have to get them the puck and good things happen."
Scheifele made it 2-0 at 16:32, knocking in a rebound at the right post shortly after a Rangers' power play expired.
"We had to crank up our intensity," Bowness said. "We had to start working a lot harder tonight. The guys responded."
Connor extended it to 3-0 at 6:04 of the second period with a quick shot from the left hash marks.
After the Rangers got a goal in, Scheifele scored on a backhand in the slot at 15:29 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
"He got it back, good response," Bowness said of Scheifele's turnover that led to Trocheck's goal. "He gave it up but then it's get it back. So he gets two. Those are big goals for us.
"[The Rangers] are a highly skilled team. There are three or four lines coming at you, and they're a high shot volume team. We kind of expected it. We probably gave up a few extra shots than we needed to give up with our puck management, which got us into trouble."
The Winnipeg Jets have won five of their last 10 games.
The New York Islanders won against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, February 20 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a score of 4-2. The New York Islanders currently rank 4th in the Metropolitan Division.
Ilya Sorokin made 44 saves for the Islanders (29-24-7), who also came back from down one in the third to defeat the Penguins 5-4 at home on Friday.
New York was playing its first game without forward Mathew Barzal, who is out week to week with a lower-body injury.
"We needed our goalie to be good. He was," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "We have a great rivalry with this team. The way the game ended the other night in New York, I expected this to be a hard-fought game. We're both fighting for points."
After Pittsburgh scored the first goal 6:12 in, Brock Nelson tied it 1-1 at 5:19 of the second period, electing to shoot the puck blocker side from the right circle on a 2-on-1 for his 25th goal of the season.
Jason Zucker responded for the Penguins on a power play to make it 2-1 at 12:26.
New York was outshot 37-24 in the first two periods before scoring three times in the third.
"Belief. We believe we have done it before and we believed we could do it again," Horvat said. "Especially in the second half of that second period, we were starting to come. We were starting to gain momentum. I think it just carried on to the third period there."
Bo Horvat tied it 2-2 at 8:34 when he scored from a sharp angle below the right circle after Hudson Fasching jumped up to keep the puck in at the blue line.
Anders Lee then put the Islanders in front 3-2 at 10:15, receiving a pass from Matt Martin on his backhand and tucking the puck inside the right post with his forehand. The play started after Tristan Jarry passed the puck to Horvat behind the net.
"This team, say whatever you want about us, but we're going to battle and we're going to fight until the end," Lee said. "That's a full team win. Really proud of our guys tonight. It could've gone another way, and we pushed through. We took control and we were able to come out with just a big win."
Brock Nelson scored his second of the game into an empty net with 25 seconds left for the 4-2 final.
The New York Islanders have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
Goaltending battles have never looked so epic. Give me the home team. Islanders 2, Jets 1
Betting trends
Jets are 6-1 after seven straight unders this season.
Jets are 9-5 off a road win this season.
Islanders are 7-10 after a division game this season.
Projected lines
Jets:
Kyle Connor -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Saku Maenalanen
Sam Gagner -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron -- Kevin Stenlund -- Karson Kuhlman
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon -- Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley -- Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
Kyle Connor -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Saku Maenalanen
Sam Gagner -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Nikolaj Ehlers -- Adam Lowry -- Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron -- Kevin Stenlund -- Karson Kuhlman
Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon -- Neal Pionk
Logan Stanley -- Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
Islanders:
Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Simon Holmstrom
Zach Parise -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Hudson Fasching -- Casey Cizikas -- Arnaud Durandeau
Ross Johnston -- Andy Andreoff -- Matt Martin
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov -- Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho -- Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
Anders Lee -- Bo Horvat -- Simon Holmstrom
Zach Parise -- Brock Nelson -- Kyle Palmieri
Hudson Fasching -- Casey Cizikas -- Arnaud Durandeau
Ross Johnston -- Andy Andreoff -- Matt Martin
Adam Pelech -- Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov -- Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho -- Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
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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.
