Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders - 6/17/21 NHL Picks and Prediction

The New York Islanders will host the Tampa Bay Lightning for game 3 of their Semifinals series in the NHL playoffs. The series is tied up 1-1 after the first two in Tampa Bay.

The New York Islanders could not get anything going offensively in game 2. Their first goal came via the power play, and the second with just under 4 minutes remaining while trailing 4-1. Brock Nelson scored his team-leading 7th goal of the postseason in the game. Jean-Gabriel Pageau leads the team with 10 assists and 13 points. Semyon Varlamov was relieved in the 3rd period after allowing 4 goals on 27 shots. Ilya Sorokin came in and stopped all 6 shots he faced. The Islanders have been playing great hockey at home this postseason; they have gone 4-2 averaging 4.0 goals per game and allowing 2.33 to their opponents.

Tampa Bay as able to get their attack going in game 2, scoring a goal in each period to cruise past New York for a 4-2 victory. They outshot the Islanders 33-26 in the game. Nikita Kucherov had 3 assists in the game, he leads the team with 17 assists and 22 points this postseason. Four different Lightning players scored in the game, including Brayden Point with his NHL-leading 10th playoff goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy started again for Tampa Bay. He allowed 2 goals on 24 shots. Vasilevskiy has allowed 2.21 goals per game this postseason with a .933 save percentage. Tampa Bay is 5-1 on the road in the playoffs; they have scored 2.50 goals per game while allowing 1.83 to their opponents.

AUTHOR: Joe Bonomo

Call center analyst by day, sports analyst by night. Joe knows how to break down the numbers to give you the best picks.