Islanders vs. Avalanche prediction: NHL odds, pick, best bet

Weird things happen at the beginning of an NHL season, but the situation in Colorado is bizarre even by those standards.The Avalanche — one of the favorites in the Western Conference — are 0-2 and have been outscored 14-8 in those two contests. Colorado’s starting goaltender, Alexandar Georgiev, has allowed eight goals on 25 shots and was pulled in both games this season.The Avs, who are -162 favorites, will look to get right against the Islanders on Monday night.The Islanders have also endured an inauspicious start.

On the surface the results — an overtime loss to red-hot Utah and a 3-0 defeat to Dallas on the road — look fine, but when you dig a little deeper it becomes a bit worrying.The Isles were sloppy in their home opener against Utah, but they blew three leads, including one they took with under 2:10 to go in regulation.The Islanders were a bit sharper against Dallas, but they didn’t create enough scoring chances and paid for some errors in the defensive zone.

It was a step in the right direction, but the Isles will need to be even crisper if they want to pull the upset against Colorado.  You’d also expect the Avalanche to place an emphasis on playing a clean, structured game on Monday.It goes against Colorado’s DNA a bit, but considering how this season has started you could forgive the Avs if they commit to trying to slow this thing down and protect their struggling goaltenders. The Islanders would be more than happy to oblige in that style of play as they know their best chance against the Avs is for this to be an ugly, low-event game. With that in mind, I’ll back the first period to end nil-nil at +360. Best bet: 1P under 0.5 goals (+360, DraftKings)  Michael Leboff handicaps the EPL, NHL, golf and anything else that isn’t the NFL and NBA for the NY Post.

He’s up 49.73 units betting EPL with a 7.17% ROI....