In their first head-to-head meeting of the regular season, the New York Islanders and the Anaheim Ducks meet at the Honda Center in an East-versus-West showdown. The match will get going at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 17, and it is being shown live on Fox Sports West.
New York Islanders vs. Anaheim Ducks Odds
Anaheim is 4-2 straight up (SU) and has earned 2.5 units for moneyline bettors this season. That winning percentage, ranked 1st in the Pacific Division in this young season, isn’t too far off from to the 44-38 record the team posted during last year’s regular season campaign. Among its six games this season, two have gone under the total, while two have gone over and one has pushed. The team’s 1-1 SU at home so far this year.
The Ducks have successfully scored on 26.7 percent of their power play opportunities so far. That’s a big improvement from last year, when they were ranked 24th in the league by scoring on 17.3 percent of their extra-man advantages. Their penalty kill has fallen off significantly year-over-year as they’ve gone from successfully defending 82.3 percent of opponents’ power plays (ranked fifth overall last season) to 77.8 percent this year.
As a collective unit, the Ducks have been penalized just 3.0 times per game this season. Last year, they posted the third-highest figure in the league with 4.3 penalties per game. After serving an average of 10.2 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team’s had to kill penalties for just 6.0 minutes per matchup this season.
With a .944 save percentage and 33.6 saves per game, John Gibson (3-2-1) has been the primary option in goal for Anaheim this season. If Anaheim decides to give him the night off, however, it might turn to Ryan Miller (1-1-1 record, .946 save percentage, 1.51 goals against average).
The Ducks will continue to look for leadership from Jakob Silfverberg and Hampus Lindholm. Silfverberg (seven points) has tallied three goals and four assists while Lindholm has one goal and five assists to his name so far in the early stages of the season.
On the visiting bench, New York is 2-2 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 1.1 units this year. Through four regular season matches, two of its games have gone over the total, while another two have gone under the total and none have pushed. As the visiting team so far, the Islanders are 1-1 SU.
The Isles have scored on 25.0 percent of their power play chances this year after converting on 23.2 percent of their extra-man opportunities in 2017-18 (which ranked them seventh in the league in that category). The team has gone from successfully defending 73.2 percent of opponent power plays (ranked 31st overall last season) to 80.0 percent in 2018-19.
New York’s players have been penalized only 2.8 times per game this season, a number that’s improved from the 3.4 penalties per game given up last year. After serving an average of 7.8 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team’s had to kill penalties for only 5.5 minutes per matchup this season.
Thomas Greiss (32.0 saves per game) has been the primary option in the net for New York. Greiss has one win and one to his credit, while registering a .928 save percentage and 2.52 goals against average this year.
For the visiting Islanders, the offense will be facilitated by Mathew Barzal (one goal, four assists) and Josh Bailey (one goal, three assists).
New York Islanders vs. Anaheim Ducks Betting Picks
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Notes
Betting Trends
After going 4-7 in games decided by a shootout last year, the Ducks are off to a 1-1 start in shootouts this season. New York was 3-3 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
The under has hit in three of Anaheim’s last five outings.
New York has managed 21.0 shot attempts per game over its last five road games while Anaheim is averaging 26.0 shots per game over its last five at home.
New York skaters registered 22.1 hits per game last season, while the Ducks logged 24.2 hits per contest.
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