The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders meet Thursday in NHL action at the UBS Arena. The Washington Capitals look for a win after splitting their last eight games. The New York Islanders need a win after losing eight of their last 12 games.

The Washington Capitals are averaging 3.3 goals per game and are scoring on 19.2 percent of their power play opportunities. Alex Ovechkin leads Washington with 50 goals, John Carlson has 54 assists and Evgeny Kuznetsov has 205 shots on goal. Defensively, the Washington Capitals are allowing 2.9 goals per game and are killing 81.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Vitek Vanecek has given up 98 goals on 1,091 shots faced, and IIya Samsonov has allowed 116 goals on 1,112 shots.

The New York Islanders are averaging 2.8 goals per game and are scoring on 20.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Brock Nelson leads New York with 36 goals, Mathew Barzal has 40 assists and Noah Dobson has 189 shots on goal. Defensively, the New York Islanders are allowing 2.8 goals per game and are killing 84.1 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Ilya Sorokin has given up 118 goals on 1,610 shots faced, and Semyon Varlamov has allowed 86 goals on 951 shots.

The Capitals are 8-2 in their last 10 road games and 11-4 in their last 15 vs. Eastern Conference. The Islanders are 0-4 in their last 4 games following a win and 1-5 in their last 6 overall. The over is 18-6-2 in Capitals last 26 overall. The over is 4-1 in Islanders last 5 home games. The Capitals are 9-3 in the last 12 meetings in New York and 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.

The Washington Capitals are obviously the better team here and should be favored, but the soft line tells me oddsmakers know something maybe we don’t. We also just saw the Islanders make light work of the Caps a few days ago, winning on the road 4-1. I’d love to side with the Capitals and the small juice, but this line comes off a little fishy. Give me the Islanders at home and the plus money.