Matt DiLeo previews Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals between the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, which takes place on Saturday September 5th, at 7:30 pm EST.
New York Islanders vs Philadelphia Flyers Preview
Series: Tied 3-3
The Flyers came back to life and have stolen 2 games in a row to tie the series and force a game 7. I say the words stole because they won both games in overtime, actually all 3 of their wins this series have come in overtime.
In game 6, they went up 2-0, only to give up 3 unanswered goals and go down 3-2. Luckily, they crawled back and ended up winning the game. Although, on the surface it looks like they have turned the tide and are a shoe in to win game 7 with this momentum, but let’s take a closer look.
The Islanders had 22 more shots on goal, more power plays, and more hits. These are metrics that show that they are actually in more control of the game than the Flyers are. The Flyers were 0/4 on the power play yet again, which is now the 6th straight game where they haven’t scored on the power play. To be honest, they got really lucky in overtime as the Islanders had a stick break and that led to a breakaway that the Flyers capitalized on.
The only thing that the Flyers have going for them is that the Islanders are starting to cool off, especially Varlamov. Varlamov gave up 5 goals again in the last game, and some were pretty ugly, The Flyers are going to need him to step up big if they want to close this series out. If the Islanders don’t come out hot, Carter Hart can definitely steal them a game, I think this is a great game to live bet as scores change in this series pretty frequently and maybe you can tell which team is playing better after the 1st period.
New York Islanders vs Philadelphia Flyers Game 4 Prediction
In this 2-game sample size of game 7’s this year, the Stars beat the Avalanche in OT 5-4, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Canucks 3-0. One game went over, as the other one went under the total. That doesn’t do us any good, but there are some key trends that this gives us.
Both teams who were up 3-1 in the series, but let the series get tied at 3-3 actually closed out the series. So, the Stars and the Golden Knights both advanced. Also, both teams who scored first ended up winning as well. This points to the Islanders and I do think they are still playing better hockey as well. I have to back them to close out this series again.
New York Islanders vs Philadelphia Flyers Pick
Islanders (-134 at DraftKings)
