The New York Islanders are pretty much on top of the NHL world right now. Going into the games that were to be played on Monday, they had more points than any other team in the league, and they are currently riding the crest of a nine-game winning streak.

Their goal differential doesn’t show them to be as dominant as some of the other high-achievers in the league, like Carolina, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Vegas, but they are residing in a pretty tough division and exerting a certain degree of control.

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They’ll have a date on Tuesday against the Washington Capitals, and you know that one is going to have some special added meaning for head coach Barry Trotz. But maybe it’s the other way around too?

They’ll drop the puck at 7 PM ET at the Capital One Arena.

And we know the way to go on this one at America’s Bookie.

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Islanders vs. Capitals Betting Report

When: 7 PM ET (Tuesday)

NHL Betting Lines

Money Line: Capitals -120 / Islanders +100

Total: Over 5.5 Goals -105 / Under 5.5 Goals -115

Washington comes into the game with the second highest shooting percentage in the league (12.0%). And in the comparison of expected goals for and goals against, they’re almost at a +8, which gives them the perceived edge in that department. There’s no question that the Caps are in the same league; it’s just that the Isles have really caught fire.

And then there is the matter of goaltending.

There is no team in the NHL with a better save percentage than the Islanders. Kudos go to both of their netminders, but primarily to Semyon Varlamov, who has been brilliant with a GAA of 2.03 and a save percentage of .929. In the metric of “Goals Saved Above Average,” otherwise known as GSAA, he’s at 12.5, which is third best in the league and a pretty good indicator as to why he is logging more than twice as many starts as capable backup Ilya Sorokin.

We’ll tell you what really stung, however. The Caps blew Varlamov up in a January 28 matchup, reaching him for five goals until he got yanked and Washington put another into the empty net in a 6-3 victory. The Caps have beaten the Islanders in both meetings this season and we can guarantee you that bothers Trotz a great deal, considering the awkward way he moved on after guiding the team to a Stanley Cup title.

But that’s also before the Isles got on a roll.

By comparison with Varlamov, Washington’s Vitek Vanecek suffers. His GSAA is -1.48, which places him way down the list of the NHL’s primary goalies. He has allowed four goals in each of his last two games, but he is still 6-3 in his last nine starts.

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NHL handicappers might want to take note that Ilya Samsonov has been in goal in the last two through Sunday, and he has stopped 58 out of 65 shots. He has yet to lose a game in regulation time. He was the team’s #1 goalie at the season’s outset, but had a tough battle with COVID, then took a while to recover and had to go back to the minors for “conditioning.” At this point he says he feels 100%. And he just beat Philadelphia three times within a week.

Another guy who’s had COVID issues is Alex Overchkin, who wasn’t available for either of the previous two games against the Islanders. But he has scored four goals in his last seven games, and he’s skating well enough to get plenty of opportunities.

Meanwhile, Anders Lee, the Islanders’ captain who is tied for the team’s goal-scoring lead, has been placed on long-term injured reserve due to a “lower body injury.” He won’t be back for a while.

There are a couple of things we want to point out here. One is that these regular season games against the Capitals haven’t exactly been a revenge tour for Trotz; his Isles have gone 4-6 in those contests. But there was that 4-1 romp in last year’s playoffs in the Toronto bubble; that’s what still sticks in Washington’s craw.

The other thing we wanted to say is that, going into Monday’s game against Buffalo, the Caps were almost as hot as the Islanders, winning eight of their previous nine. So if you’re talking streaks, there’s not a lot to separate these two. Losing Lee is NOT addition by subtraction. All things considered, we’re going to grab the favorite here.

The Play: WASHINGTON -120