{"id":82530,"date":"2025-12-13T22:31:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T22:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/82530\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T22:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T22:31:16","slug":"islanders-vs-lightning-prediction-odds-picks-and-best-bet-for-saturdays-matinee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/82530\/","title":{"rendered":"Islanders vs. Lightning prediction: Odds, picks, and best bet for Saturday’s matinee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

The Islanders<\/a> are rolling. The Lightning are rolling. And this is the third game between these two teams in two weeks. This one should have a playoff-like feel to it.<\/p>\n

The Lightning are slight favorites on the road against the Isles, who will be inducting Pat LaFonantaine into the team\u2019s Hall of Fame before puck drop on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Islanders vs. Lightning odds, prediction<\/p>\n

The biggest news for this one is that Bo Horvat is almost certain to miss the game. The leading goalscorer on Long Island fell awkwardly in Thursday\u2019s win over the Ducks, but it does seem like the worst-case scenario has been avoided. Horvat was labeled \u201cday-to-day<\/a>\u201d by head coach Patrick Roy.<\/p>\n

The good news for the Islanders is that they are much better equipped to handle this kind of loss than they were in seasons past. When Mat Barzal and Anthony Duclair were out long-term last year, the Isles had to patch together a lineup with a handful of AHLers. This roster is much deeper, with Jonathan Drouin and\/or Max Tsyplakov likely to slot in on Saturday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still a bad thing for the Islanders \u2014 Horvat has been lights out all season and is among the NHL\u2019s leaders in goals \u2014 but it\u2019s not a death knell. It does make Saturday\u2019s tilt much more challenging, though.<\/p>\n

After a brief stumble with a depleted lineup, the Lightning have course-corrected by scoring 14 goals in their last two games. We knew that this offense was going to be a beast with Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel, but it\u2019s the defense that makes the Bolts a Stanley Cup contender once again.<\/p>\n

\"NikitaNikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Betting on the NHL? <\/p>\n

Tampa is the fourth-best team in the NHL at preventing high-danger scoring chances this season, and they rank eighth in expected goals allowed at 5-on-5. With Andrei Vasilevskiy in form, it\u2019s no wonder Tampa sits fourth in the circuit in goals against per game.<\/p>\n

The Islanders have been a bit messy in their own zone for most of this season, but things are getting better in that department on the Island, and Ilya Sorokin has performed like one of the best goaltenders in the NHL since the start of November.<\/p>\n

The line has adjusted a bit too much in favor of the Lightning because of Horvat\u2019s absence, but a play on the Under 5.5 at plus-money seems like a savvy bet on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Play: Under 5.5 (+105, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4640,40336,5691,45806,110,5775,5776,135,862,137,136],"class_list":["post-82530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-betting","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-betting","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-picks","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}