Perhaps no team in the NHL is more desperate for a win than the New York Islanders right now.
Riding a six-game losing streak, the Isles blew another third-period lead on Vancouver Canucks thanks to ill-timed penalties and sloppy play.
The Isles have been outscored, 22-12, during their current slide but almost all of that damage has come in the third period.
The Islanders have a -11 goal difference (1 GF, 12 GA) and have taken 11 minor penalties in the final frame during this 0-4-2 stretch.
Can the Islanders finally get over their demons against the also-scuffling Seattle Kraken on Thursday night?
Islanders vs. Kraken prediction
(6 p.m. ET. ESPN+)
The Isles are in a classic conundrum for hockey handicappers. On one hand, they’ve been in every game during this losing streak and their underlying metrics aren’t that bad.
On the other hand, the Isles have invented ways to lose and have been alarmingly bad at finding the back of the net. The Islanders have created 12.9 expected goals at 5-on-5 during this streak, but they’ve only scored five times.
So do you give the Isles some credit for hanging around in games and back them to positively regress? Or do you downgrade them for their inability to put together a full 60 minutes? It’s a tough question to answer.
The Kraken are also in the midst of a poor run of form and share a lot of common traits with the Islanders. Seattle has played decently during their current 1-3-2 malaise, but they are struggling to score and the goaltending has not been good enough.
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Both the Islanders and Kraken blew third-period leads en route to overtime losses Wednesday night and there are some striking similarities between these two struggling clubs, but the actionable difference is in goal, where the Islanders have a decided edge with Semyon Varlamov set to take on Philipp Grubauer.
With the Islanders and Kraken both struggling in similar areas and playing on the second night of a back-to-back, you could see why this game is being priced as a coin flip. But the Isles project to have a sizable edge in goal and that is enough for a bet on Lane Lambert’s side to get two points Thursday night.
The Bet: Islanders (-105, BetMGM)