There was plenty to like about the New York Islanders’ performance in Game 1 against the heavily favored Carolina Hurricanes.
The Isles were the better team through the first 40 minutes of the contest and arguably deserved a better fate than a 3-1 loss Saturday night.
You could look at Game 1 as the Isles’ way of showing they won’t be an easy out in a series that nobody gave them a chance to win, or you could look at it as a missed opportunity.
If you’re not going to beat the Canes when you play that well, then when will you beat them?
The betting market seems to be leaning towards the latter as the Islanders are +205 underdogs for Game 2. That’s where they closed ahead of Game 1.
Islanders vs. Hurricanes odds, prediction
(7:30 p.m. ET)
It certainly wasn’t the best performance from the Hurricanes, but you’re not going to have your A-game throughout the postseason, and it’s important that you find ways to win even when you’re a little out of sync.
A massive part of being able to do that is getting strong goaltending, which is exactly what happened for the Canes on Saturday night.
Frederik Andersen was lights out in goal for Carolina, stopping 34 of 35 shots and keeping the Hurricanes in the contest when the Islanders had the ice tilted in the second period.
Going into the series, you’d think that the Islanders would be the team relying on their goalie to steal a game or two, but the script was flipped in Game 1.
Another surprising wrinkle in Game 1 was that neither team got much from their best players.
Jake Guentzel, Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis were kept quiet by the Isles, while Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Brock Nelson were held in check by the Hurricanes.
In other words, both teams have some room for improvement in Game 2.
Betting on the NHL?
It’s really tough to make any conclusions from Game 1 of a best-of-seven series, but it does seem fair to suggest that the Isles will be a tougher out than most people projected before the puck dropped Saturday.
And given their price is still sitting above +200, it doesn’t seem too outlandish to back the underdog in this spot.
The Bet: Islanders (+205, DraftKings)