NY Islanders at NY Rangers 1/14/21 - NHL Picks & Predictions
The New York Islanders looked very impressive at times last year. However, the Islanders offense was still fairly weak. The New York Islanders ended up scoring 2.78 goals per game, but have converted on the power play at 17.3% of the time. The defense for the Islanders allowed only 2.79 goals per game, but ended up killing off 80.7% of the power plays.
Mathew Barzal is coming back to lead the Islanders at the center position. The Islanders did pick up some good talent as well with Sebastian Aho coming over from the Hurricanes to play in the defense. The goalie who is coming back for the Islanders is Semyyon Varlamov, but if Varlamov has issues Cory Schneider is available to step into the net.
With the Rangers they bounced all over the place last year and a lot of the issues stemmed from the lack of defensive effort. The offense for the Rangers put in 3.33 goals per game while converting at 22.9% of the power plays. The defense for the Rangers have allowed 3.14 goals per game, but have killed off a total of 77.4% of the power plays.
Mika Zibanejad is coming back for the Rangers this year and he should be able to support Artemi Panarin very nicely for the Rangers starting line. The Rangers most likely will be starting Keith Kinkaid in the net as the Lundqvist era for the Rangers is definitely over as Henrik went to the Capitals.
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The game here will be a good rivalry match between the Rangers and Islanders. However, one thing that will make the difference in the game here is the fact that the Rangers are looking to build up their defense and that could be hard with a new goalie. Look for the Islanders to play great defensively and that will lead to the Islanders keeping the Rangers offense in check to bring home the win. Final Score Prediction, New York Islanders win 2-1.