Islanders vs. Sharks Prediction, Best NHL Over/Under Bet for March 8 | Deadspin.com

OK, dropped a tough one last night (not sure Frankie Nazar deserved that penalty shot), but we’ll stick to hockey for this evening’s battle between the New York Islanders and San Jose Sharks.Islanders vs. Sharks Prediction, Best NHL Over/Under Bet for March 8 | Deadspin.com

As expected, the Sharks made a handful of notable moves preceding yesterday’s trade deadline as the franchise’s lengthy rebuild continues. In the process, they hindered the current core after dealing away Fabian Zetterlund and Jake Walman.Islanders vs. Sharks Prediction, Best NHL Over/Under Bet for March 8 | Deadspin.com

The two transactions figure to have an immediate impact on San Jose’s ceiling offensively. After all, Zetterlund led the club in goals last year with 24 and appears well on his way to another 20-goal showing. Walman, meanwhile, was the Sharks’ most productive defenseman and led its blue-liners in points (32) by a wide margin — so wide, in fact, that his point total more than doubles any of his other former teammates at the same position.

As it is, the poor Sharks are already third from the bottom in the NHL in goals per game (2.63), so these transactions will absolutely affect their ability to put the puck in the net. And now, for their first post-trade-deadline date, they must take on one of the best goalies around.

Ilya Sorokin may not be crafting the best season of his five-year career, but he’s still enjoying another nice campaign, illustrated by his 2.78 goals-against average and .904 save percentage. Most importantly, it’s an improvement from last year, when the Russia native finished with a GAA above 3.00 for the first and only time in his career.

Sorokin also appears to be finding his groove again, stringing together his first pair of consecutive outings allowing three or fewer goals for the first time in more than a month. This is a perfect matchup for him to keep it going.

The Islanders were not as active at the trade deadline as tonight’s foe, but they did make one significant move that should surely have some ramifications moving forward. Brock Nelson, who was with New York for the entirety of his 12 years in the league, was shipped out to Colorado for mostly draft picks, taking with him a team-high-tying 43 points on the season.

Nelson finished in the top three in points on the team in each of the last six seasons, so to say this is a huge blow to the current Islanders group would be an understatement.

Like San Jose, the Islanders are already anchored toward the bottom in scoring, registering 2.72 goals per game this year.

At press time, it’s unknown who will be in net for the Sharks tonight. To secure a lower-scoring result, we’ll certainly hope backup Vitek Vanecek is the starting netminder. He’s been decent in his two starts since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, but “decent” is still a lot better than whatever you call Alexander Georgiev’s performance.

Georgiev is 4-13-1 in 18 starts since being traded to the Bay Area while posting a woeful 3.87 GAA. He also got rocked for a whopping seven goals in his last outing — against his former team, no less — and hopefully that will be an indication that Vanecek, who hasn’t played in a week, is getting the nod.

If the Sharks are deploying Vanecek between the pipes, feel good in this under wager.

Pick: Under 6.5 (-135, DraftKings)

NHL betting record: 32-26-3, +0.5 unit
Over/Unders: 19-20-3
Goalie props: 13-6

Each bet is graded as if it were to win one unit unless otherwise stated.

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