Thanks to NHL announcer Don Cherry, the Carolina Hurricanes have a new moniker that perfectly suits their newfound confidence and surging play this postseason. Cherry slammed the Hurricanes in February following one of their now famous postgame celebrations that became popular with the franchise earlier this season.
“These guys to me are jerks,” Cherry said at the time. “And I’ll tell you one thing, they better not do this in the playoffs. This is a joke.”
Fortunately for the Hurricanes, the commentator’s criticism and some smart marketing, gave birth to a new moniker that has now come to define the fun-filled, no-holds-barred style of play that Carolina uses to get past their suddenly stunned opponents. Now, with a stunning sweep of the New York Islanders sitting in front of them, let’s find out if the Canes are the pick to get it done at home in game 4 on Friday night or whether the Islanders are the pick to get the season-extending upset at PNC Arena.
Islanders vs Hurricanes Stanley Cup Playoffs Odds & Game Preview
- When: Wednesday May 1, 2019, 7:00 PM ET
- Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
- TV: CBC, Sportsnet, TVA, NBCS
- Radio: New York / Carolina
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs Odds: NY Islanders +117 / Carolina -141 / Total: 5
Why Bet On New York?
After suffering a pair of low-scoring, one-goals losses in the first two games of this Eastern Conference semifinal matchup, New York has completely outclassed in their humbling 5-2 road loss against Carolina on Wednesday. Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist and Devon Toews scored on the power play, but it wasn’t nearly enough from New York’s struggling offense, which scored one goal in both of the opening two games of this series. Now, the Isles will try to avoid the sweep at the hands of the wild card Hurricanes.
“It’s a big mountain, but we’ve dug in many times this year when people doubted us,” coach Barry Trotz said. “So we’re just going to have to dig in. … We have to earn the right to keep playing. That’s it. It’s do or die.”
Team Statistics
Offense- Goals: 2.75
- Shots: 28.92
- PP/PK Percentage: 14.86
- Goals: 2.36
- Shots: 30.99
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.25
Why Bet On Carolina?
Carolina is pretty much on fire right now. After dropping the first two games of its first round series against the defending champion Washington Capitals, the Hurricanes have won seven of eight heading into Friday night including their impressive win over the Islanders. Now, Carolina is poised to pull off the sweep but head coach Rod Brind’Amour said he’s preparing his team for another difficult battle.
“The next game’s always the toughest,” Brind’Amour said. “They’re not going to go away. We know that. These games have all been tight — one-goal games, essentially, and it’s going to be like that on Friday.”
Backup goalie Curtis McElhinney came up huge for the Hurricanes in relief of injured starter Petr Mrazek. At 35 years and 343 days old, McElhinney became the oldest goalie in NHL history to make his first career playoff start – and it was a memorable one at that as he turned back 28 shots to get the win while making several stupendous stops including a pair from a split position.
“It’s one of those timely saves that you need to come up with at certain points of the game,” McElhinney said, “and tonight, it was there for me.”
Team Statistics
Offense- Goals: 2.98
- Shots: 34.16
- PP/PK Percentage: 16.73
- Goals: 2.67
- Shots: 28.48
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.12
Islanders vs Hurricanes Stanley Cup Playoffs Betting Trends
- NY Islanders are 10-5 SU in their last 15 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of NY Islanders’ last 6 games
- Carolina are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Carolina’s last 6 games
Expert Analysis and Prediction for Islanders vs Hurricanes
Okay NHL betting faithful, New York is completely and utterly desperate, but outside of that, there’s no good reason to expect the Islanders to pull off the upset. New York was ranked in the bottom third in scoring this season and that’s just what we’re seeing in this series…the Isles struggle to score and keep pace with the more explosive Hurricanes.
Islanders are 0-7 in their last 7 Conference Semifinals games and 0-4 in their last four games against Carolina. More importantly, Carolina has gone 7-1 in their last 8 after scoring 5 goals or more in their previous game, 6-1 in their last 7 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game and a blistering 22-5 in their last 27 games as a favorite.
I’m going with the “Bunch of Jerks” to win and finish off this series in four!
2019 Stanley Cup Betting Pick: Carolina 4 NY Islanders 2
