Don't Count Out the New York Islanders Just Yet

It was an ugly sight on Monday night when the New York Islanders were trounced by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 8-0.

Despite the ugly performance, don’t rule out the Islanders just yet.

WynnBET now has the Islanders set at +450 underdogs to come back and win the series, and they have the longest odds to win the Stanley Cup among all remaining teams at +900.

The Islanders return to the Nassau Coliseum for Game 6, in a win or go home situation. They’re set as +120 underdogs to even the series, and the Lightning are set as -160 favorites to win the game and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. The total for the game is set at 5.5.

While the 8-0 game was tough to watch for Islanders fans, don’t expect a similar outcome tonight. The first four games of the series were a truer indication of how close the series is, as three of them were decided by a single goal.

This fact is further supported by looking at shots on goal, as the Lightning barely outshot the Islanders heading into the nightmarish fifth game, only recording four more shot attempts than New York.

The Islanders will need Semyon Varlamov to return to form tonight if they want to have a chance to get back in the series. The Russian was putting one of the best performances in the postseason before allowing three goals in sixteen shots before getting yanked in favor of Ilya Sorokin in Game 5. Despite the terrible start, Varlamov still sports a solid 2.74 GAA and a .919 save percentage in the playoffs, so I expect him to have a bounce back game tonight.

It may be tough to bet against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the recent shift in odds is an overreaction to what was an anomaly of an outcome in Game 5. The Islanders present a lot of value at +120 to win Game 6, and +450 to win the series.