The New York Islanders vs. Boston Bruins series is tied 2-2 as it returns to Beantown for Game 5 on Monday night. Which way to lean at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks?
New York Islanders vs. Boston Bruins
Monday, June 7, 2021 – 06:30 PM EDT – at TD Garden
Two NHL playoff games on Monday night, and the first is Islanders at Bruins Game 5 from the East Division. NBC Sports Network has the telecast with the unusual start time of 6:30 p.m. ET.
On the updated series line at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks, Boston is -205 and New York +175. I do expect the Bruins to win in Game 7, which would be on Friday back in Boston. Game 6 is Wednesday on Long Island. Bruins winning in seven is priced +200 on the exact result NHL prop. Boston in six is the +170 favorite, with Islanders in seven at +400 and Islanders in six at +425.
To win the Stanley Cup, the B’s are +450 third favorites behind Colorado (+150) and Tampa Bay (+300). The Islanders are +1300. The winner of this series most likely will face the Lightning in the semifinals. Tampa is up on Carolina 3-1 and can finish things off Tuesday in Raleigh. In a normal season, the Bruins and Lightning wouldn’t be able to meet in the semifinals because they are in the same Atlantic Division. The league will go back to its usual divisions next season.
Isles Are Comeback Kids
If form holds, the Islanders will lose this game because the teams have swapped wins and losses in the first four. New York was a 4-1 home winner on Saturday; the previous two games both went to overtime.Matthew Barzal was the No. 1 star on Saturday with a goal and assist.
He scored the eventual game-winner at 13:03 of the third, his second goal of these playoffs. Barzal has 31 postseason points (nine goals, 22 assists) since making his playoff debut with the Isles in 2019. The only New York player with more over that stretch is Josh Bailey with 33 (10 goals, 23 assists). Bailey was held without a point in Game 4 and managed just one shot on goal.
Kyle Palmieri (fifth goal of playoffs), Casey Cizikas (second) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (third) had the other Islanders goals. They scored three in about a seven-minute span in the third. The last two were on a New York empty net.
Semyon Varlamov allowed the one goal on 29 shots. He didn’t start the Game 1 loss – Ilya Sorokin did. I doubt we see Sorokin again in this series unless Varlamov gets hurt or the team is being blown out in a game. Right wing Oliver Wahlstrom has yet to play in this series with a lower-body injury and is not expected to go Monday even though he’s traveling with the team.
The Isles have won in comeback fashion in each of their last four victories during these playoffs. It’s the fifth time in franchise history that New York has earned a comeback win in at least four consecutive postseason victories. It last happened in 1993. New York is 2-5 on NHL picks in its past seven after a win.
Lineup Change Coming For Bruins?
Boston’s lone goal in Game 4 was at 3:57 of the second on the power play by David Krejci for a 1-0 lead, but then Tuukka Rask (who played well overall) gave it right back less than three minutes later in Kyle Palmeiri’s goal. Krecji has been a bit of a disappointment in the playoffs with just that one goal and five assists. He had eight goals and 36 assists in the regular season.
Krejci was fined $5,000 for slashing Mathew Barzal of the Islanders in Game 4. Krejci was initially given a major penalty for spearing before it was reviewed and changed to a two-minute slashing minor.
Defenseman Brandon Carlo didn’t play in Game 4 after being injured in Game 3, and he’s questionable for this one. Carlo had just four points in 27 regular season games but is a physical presence at 6-foot-5, 215 pounds. Fellow blueliner Kevin Miller hasn’t played since Game 4 of the first round and is questionable for Game 5.
What’s going on with Bruins star forward Patrice Bergeron? He led the NHL during the season in winning 62.2 percent of his faceoffs and has never been below 54 percent in his NHL career. However, in this series he’s only at 45.7 percent. He was 10-for-24 on Saturday and had his four-game points streak end.
For the 10th consecutive season, Bergeron was named a finalist for the Selke Trophy on Sunday. That goes to the NHL’s top defensive forward and Bergeron has won it four times. That’s tied with Bob Gainey for the most in history. The other finalists are Florida’s Aleksander Barkov and Vegas’ Mark Stone.
Coach Bruce Cassidy has hinted at lineup changes for Game 5 on the third line as that trio of Nick Ritchie, Charlie Coyle, and Jake DeBrusk "didn’t generate anything.” Cassidy said Trent Frederic (who hasn’t yet played this postseason) and Karson Kuhlman are possibilities to enter the lineup.Boston is 10-3 in its past 13 on the NHL odds after scoring two goals or fewer in the previous game.
NHL Pick: Islanders at +1.5 goals (-160) with Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
