New Jersey Devils @ New York Islanders
Ice Hockey: United States, NHL
Saturday, February 21st 2009 - Start 7:00PM ET

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The New Jersey Devils (38-18-1-2) will look to continue their domination of the Islanders (17-35-3-3) when they travel to Long Island on Saturday night. The Devils have won all 4 meetings this season, outscoring the Islanders 14-6 in the process.

New Jersey has been a pleasant surprise this season currently tied for 2nd in the Eastern Conference and tied for 4th in the overall NHL standings. The amzaing thing is that they have been without their perennial all-star goalie Martin Brodeur who has been out since early November. Backup Scott Clemmensen has risen to the occasion in Brodeur’s absence, going 25-12-1. The 32 year old veteran has been solid in the last few weeks, winning 10 of his last 13 games.

The Devils have been very good defensively for years, and this season is no different. New Jersey ranks 5th in goals against and 9th in shots against. However, one may be surprised by the fact; the Devils are one of the top 10 teams in shots and goals for. Zach Parise is having a career season, scoring 35 goals and assisting on another 35. Parise sits 5th in overall scoring, a feat few would have imagined at the beginning of the season.

The New York Islanders have been awful since the start of the season and currently sit last in the overall NHL standings. The have dropped 15 of the last 20 games and have only won 1 time in their last 8.

Similar to the Devils, the Islanders also lost their starting goaltender Rick DiPietro back in early January. New York however, has not had much success playing with their backup Joey MacDonald. Macdonald currently sports a dismal 3.29 goals against average; the 3rd worst in the league, but in all fairness often gets peppered with shots on a regular basis. In his last 9 starts he has faced an average of 36 shots, including 49 fired at him by the Devils less than 2 weeks ago.

Scoring has also been a problem for the Islanders, as they have only netted 140 goals this season, the NHL’s lowest total at this point Injures have hampered the Isles ability to score of late as they have missed the services of their assist leader Doug Weight who suffered a knee injury the last time these 2 met.

The season couldn’t end soon enough for the Islanders who are likely candidates to finish last and win the rights to first overall draft pick John Tavares. They recently traded away their 9th and 10th point leaders for a first round draft pick and Dean McAmmond (a woeful 10 points in 44 games).

I believe the odds are fair here, all things considered. We have one of the NHL’s best playing the leagues worst. This game will be the 3rd in 4 nights for the Islanders, a situation which has seen them go 0-6 in this situation. The Devils have history on their side as they have won the last 5 head to head, dating back to last season, and I think this trend will continue on Saturday night.

The Pick :

New Jersey Devils

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

60