Peculiar things can happen in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, where home-ice edge often doesn't sustain. Perhaps Carolina will be the exception, but the Islanders come in looking very dangerous, having surged down the stretch to even get playoff-eligible by winning eight of their last nine, with Semyon Varmalov (8-1-1 his last ten starts) especially hot in goal. Thus, NY continues to ascend for HC Patrick Roy, who took over midstream from Lane Lambert. This series was no picnic a season ago for the Canes, who were pushed to six games in the first round by this same underdog, and doubt it gets any easier here. Play Islanders on Money Line

The Islanders were the best team in the NHL in April at 8-0-1, are 19-12-5 overall since Patrick Roy took over as coach and won both games at Carolina this season -- the road team went 4-0 in the series. These teams also played in the 2023 first round and if we had played Isles +1.5 in each of those, we would have cashed in five of the six (two outright wins, three one-goal losses).