Islanders vs. Red Wings: Betting odds, lineups, Can we score three goals?

If the New York Islanders score three goals they usually win games. Getting three goals has been an issue of late. Maybe against the Detroit Red Wings, it won’t be so hard, maybe.

Since Barry Trotz took over, the New York Islanders are 60-3-4 when they score three or more goals. That’s an incredible record. But there’s only one – very large – issue with that. The Isles just don’t score that many goals.

Since the calendar flipped to 2020, the Islanders have scored three goals once. That was against the New Jersey Devils on January 7. In their six games in 2020, the Islanders have scored an average of 1.67 goals-for per game.

That’s obviously not enough goal-scoring to win any hockey game.

Going into a game against the worst team in the NHL should be the perfect remedy to ail their goal-scoring woes. The Red Wings allow 3.78 goals against per game, the most in the NHL by a considerable margin.

But as we all know, the Islanders have this innate ability to play down to opponents who aren’t in a playoff position. Big losses to the Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks, and most recently against the New York Rangers highlight that point.

The Islanders clearly need help offensively. But until that help comes (if it ever actually does come) they’ll have to generate offense on their own. With Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle, and Brock Nelson in the top-six, they should have enough talent up front to score three and get the ‘W’.

Tale of the Tape

Betting Odds

The Islanders are the heavy favorites tonight. Courtesy of the Action Network, the Moneyline for the Isles opened at -250 while the Red Wings opened at a +210 underdog.