Rangers vs Islanders Jan. 28 NHL Betting Pick and Predictions

Well, it’s a super-thin three-game card in the NHL tonight.

But hey, we have a New York “Derby” as the Rangers reverse commute out of Manhattan to take on the Islanders. Both teams entered the season looking like they’d compete for the back end of the playoff picture, but that’s only come to pass for one of them.

But hey, mediocrity can work when it’s matched up against something quite less. So let’s go with an NHL pick here.

Record: 2–30
Units: –9.52

Rangers vs. Islanders

Islanders ML (-140 Caesars)

The Rangers remain a dumpster fire. They’re 22-25-6 on the season and 2-7-1 in their last 10 games, which lines up perfectly with Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox going down with injuries and the organization making the unofficial decision to punt on the season.

They do come in on a one-game win streak, beating the Bruins 4-3 in overtime on Monday night. Thank you to Matthew Robertson, who played hero with the OT winner — but it’s just a band-aid on a lost season.

Over the last 10 games, the Rangers have yielded an incredibly ugly 4.8 goals per game. I mention this every time I write up the Rangers, but future Hall of Famer Jonathan Quick is just not suited to play this often. He’s 4-11-2 on the season, and since Shesterkin went down he owns an 81.2% save percentage and a -12.57 GSAA.

The Islanders are more solid than great, but that’s likely enough in this matchup. They’re 28-19-5 and sit in third place in the Metro with 59 points. In their last outing, they blanked the Flyers 4-0 on the road Monday with Jean-Gabriel Pageau netting two goals.

Dating back to December 23, the Islanders have gone 9-6-1 despite an xGF% of just 43.64%. How are they doing it? Excellent goaltending. Ilya Sorokin returned from injury on January 6 and has posted a 93.5% save percentage and 9.08 GSAA since then.

There’s also one strange X-factor here. These teams rarely trade with each other, but they pulled one off yesterday when defenseman Carson Soucy was dealt to the Islanders (technically Queens) for a third-round pick. He’ll presumably suit up tonight against his former team, as the Rangers only acquired him last season.

Anyway, let’s roll with the Islanders here in this all-around strange edition of a long-standing local rivalry.