New York Rangers vs New York Islanders Predictions, Picks & Odds

• First rivalry installment at UBS Arena
• Rangers are sitting pretty
• Isles haven’t christened the new home yet

Rangers vs Islanders Odds

This is a tale of two teams in far more ways than one. The Rangers are riding a hot streak winning five of their last six. Meanwhile, the Islanders have written a very different story early on in this young season. After a decent start, they’ve dropped their last six straight including a 3-0 loss Sunday at home to Toronto. That game was also their first-ever tilt in their new arena and they treated their fans to a goalless effort. Needless to say, the Isles will be hungry in this one.

Rangers vs Islanders Pick

While we would love to see the Islanders shake off the rust, we just don’t see it happening on Wednesday night. The Rangers are looking too slick right now at both ends of the rink. We like New York to take out the hometown Isles by a score of 3-2.

New York Rangers (-115)

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Keeping the Hot Hands Hot

The Rangers actually began the month of November 0-3 while giving up 19 goals in those three matchups. Since then, though, this has been a different team. They’ve gone 6-2-2 through their last ten and a lot of credit for their recent success can be handed to four guys: Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Chris Kreider and Igor Shesterkin.

Panarin and Fox lead the team in assists by a landslide while Kreider has been the ultimate finisher. He leads the team with 13 goals, which is seven more than the next closest tally on the team and he’s been a total ace in the hole for the NYR.

Of course, it’s always easy to hand success to the leading point-getters, but not enough has been said about the play of the young Russian netminder. He’s responsible for nine of the Rangers 11 wins and is currently boasting a 2.33 GAA and .913 save percentage. The kid is simply on fire.

Still in Search of the Inaugural Ubs ‘W’

The $1 billion UBS Arena is still goalless after 60 minutes. Well, that’s not entirely true. The Toronto Maple Leafs tallied three, but the NYI couldn’t even muster up one in the rink’s opening night on Sunday. Fast forward to Wednesday evening. The Islanders have now had three days to rest up and that extended off period couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Islanders have lost their last six in a row, but this game could be the boost they need. It’s a matchup against their biggest and oldest rival and it’s all going down in their new palace. For the Islanders to win this game though, they need to shut down the breakout. They’ve been getting picked apart lately with their forwards getting caught high. They need to play a much more responsible two-way game and give Ilya Sorokin some help for a change.

Looking at the Betting Trends

The Rangers are currently entering this game-winning nine of their last 10 against Eastern Conference teams. Meanwhile, the Islanders have only taken one of their last six against Metropolitan Division opponents.

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