Back to the NHL, where we’ll take a look at a matchup between two teams that are currently on the outside looking in at the playoff races in their respective conferences.  The Dallas Stars are in 10th place in the Western Conference, six points out of the final playoff spot.  The Islanders, meanwhile, are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference but only three points out of the final playoff spot.  The Islanders and the Stars will tangle in Dallas tonight at the American Airlines Arena:

NEW YORK ISLANDERS VS. DALLAS STARS

While we’ve repeatedly used Phoenix and Chicago as ‘under’ teams this season, the Islanders are a pretty good ‘under’ side themselves.  They’ve played ‘under’ the total in 27 of 44 games overall.   They’ve gone ‘under’ in 14 of 24 on the road.  And they’ve gone a perfect 7 for 7 to the ‘under’ in games against the Western Conference.  They may not have had as much success as Phoenix this year, but they’re a team that has to play the same way if they want to win.  Like the Coyotes, they simply don’t have enough playmakers on offense to get into shootouts.  They do have a decent defense and if they want to win games they have to play close checking, possession hockey.  Currently, the Islanders rank #29 of 30 teams in goals per game for, but are a decent #9 in goals per game against.  They aren’t as good at minimizing shots on goal, so they live and die with their goaltending.  40 year old Dwayne Roloson has handled most of the netminding work this season and has been solid.

The Islanders have played ‘under’ in 7 of their last nine games heading into this matchup.  While Dallas have a slight ‘over’ bias this year at 22-21, the Islanders have won 3 of the last 5 meetings in the Stars’ building and we look for them to control tempo and dictate style in this matchup.  8 of the last 13 head to head have gone ‘under’ and we think this one will as well.

PLAY NEW YORK ISLANDERS/DALLAS STARS UNDER 5′ -120