November 22 2013 Free NHL Picks
(4 UNITS) New York Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins : OVER 5.5 Goals 1.95
We are going to take this play for 4 units instead of the usual 2 units as this one has great value for the price. The Penguins will give Marc-Andre Fleury the night off tonight against New York and Jeff Zatkoff will step in for the Penguins. Zatkoff has played 3 games this season for the Penguins, and has gone 1-2-0 and has allowed 10 goals against on 74 shots. He has a 3.35 Goals Against Average and a .865 SV% (Fluery has a 1.90 GAA and a .924 SV% but WILL NOT be starting tonight). The Islanders defense can be sumed up in one word: terrible. They are the 3rd worst for goals against per game, with 3.23 GA/G. The only two teams worse than them are the Oilers (3.46 GA/G) and Flames (3.64 GA/G). The Penguins offense is 10th overall when it comes to scoring goals, with 2.82 goals per game, but note that when the Pens play at Home, they are scoring an average of 3.00 goals per game, and when the Islanders play Away, they allow 3.70 goals against. The Islanders are dead last in the NHL on the penalty kill, they have a 71.6 PK% which is brutal (Canucks lead the League with a 88.2 PK%). The weak Isles PK unit must face a 12th place (20.5 PP%) Penguins power play unit tonight. The Islanders also take plenty of penalties, currently at 11.5 penalty minutes per game, and they have the WORST penalty kill in the NHL. Another nice fact about these two teams is that they both take lots of shots on goal (Penguins 31.1 Shots/Game, Islanders 30.6 Shots/Game) and we have two weak goaltenders in goal tonight. Kevin Poulin will start for the Islanders tonight with his 3-6-0 record and his 2.79 GAA and .898 SV%. Also note that Zatkoff has already faced the Islanders once this season (October 25) and allowed 4 goals on 25 shots. The Islanders aren’t too bad on the offense, with 2.73 goals per game which is 13th overall. It could be a lot worse, considering the Buffalo Sabres are dead last for goals per game at 1.67 G/G. I will be shocked if this one doesn’t make it OVER 5.5 Goals tonight in Pittsburgh and I will gladly take this one at a great price.
