Carolina hosts the Islanders at home in the first round playoff matchup. This team has been a solid defensive team all season and are skilled on offense. They have two outstanding goalies in starter Frederik Anderson and Pyotr Kochetkov who will probably stand on their heads in this series. This is the first playoff game and it’s going to be an intense atmosphere as both teams will play a slower paced hard hitting game along the boards and both will be patient as they wait for their chance to score. The Hurricanes have the better defense and goaltending and can match the Islanders offensively. The Islanders find themselves in the playoffs after going on a winning run at the end of the season. The team has been up and down all season and their penalty kill and offense are not as good as Carolina as the Hurricanes are a well balanced team. However, Sorokin has played much better down the stretch and it will be tough to get one by him too. This is a rematch of the first round playoff series last season and both these teams played four of their six games in that series to the Under. Carolina's home games were all unders in that series except for one that went to overtime. That is why goals will be at a premium in this first game as they both feel each other out. It may take until the third period to get this game going and that is why Under the Total is the play in this one. Carolina have played their games to the Under all season as they are 33-46-3 (O/U) and at home they went 16-24-1(O/U). New York has played their last four of six road games to the Under and 8 of their last 12 games versus NHL opponents went Under the Total.

Best bet: take the Under the Total.