The New York Islanders will get their season underway on Saturday night with a home game against the Buffalo Sabres.
With a roster that is largely unchanged from the one that lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, there are a lot of skeptics who believe the Isles should have tried to re-invent themselves a bit for the 2023-24 season.
Bookmakers are also on the fence, tagging the Isles with a season point total of 92.5 points and pricing them as a coin flip to make the postseason.
The Isles are a -130 favorite over the Sabres at UBS Arena on Saturday.
Sabres vs. Islanders prediction
It’s understandable why people think the Islanders have gotten a bit stale.
This is, for the most part, the same core of players that we’ve seen grind away on Long Island for years and at some point you’d think that the wheels will come completely off.
But the Isles’ reputation for never changing is a bit flimsy.
Lou Lamoriello made a big splash by trading for Bo Horvat last season and he added Pierre Engvall to provide some effective depth and much-needed speed to this lineup.
The Islanders played at an 104-point pace (17-9-4) after trading for Horvat.
The strength of the Islanders remains the team’s goaltending and defense, with Ilya Sorokin serving as the headliner.
The 28-year-old netminder is the betting favorite to win the Vezina Trophy this season and he’ll play behind a reliable, consistent defense that should give him a decent chance at taking home the award.
While the Islanders will rely on their defense and structure to get results, the Sabres are quite the opposite.
Buffalo finished third in goals per game (3.57) in 2022-23, but they actually allowed more goals per game (3.62) than they scored.
There are a lot of people who believe in the Sabres in 2023-24, but this team will need to improve defensively if they’re going to end their 12-year postseason drought.
Their season-opening 5-1 loss to the Rangers was not a good sign as New York created 10 high-danger scoring chances and 2.5 expected goals at 5-on-5.
With the Islanders playing at home and having a distinct advantage in goal this line looks about right. But there is a bet that does pack some value due to Buffalo’s defensive flaws.
Mathew Barzal is set to play on the wing alongside Bowie Horvat to start the season and things seemed to be clicking for Barzal offensively in the preseason.
He was shooting more and had more freedom to take chances defensively since he wasn’t playing center.
That should make Barzal a good anytime goalscorer bet in the season opener on Saturday.
The Bet: Mat Barzal to score 1+ goals (FanDuel)