The 24-17-4-3 New York Islanders will open up the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road as they face the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game one of their best of seven series in a pro basketball game on Wednesday night. Face off time for Game 1 from Pittsburgh is scheduled for 7:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by the NBC Sports Network.

The NHL pro hockey odds from Game 1 has the home team Pittsburgh Penguins favored by -225 odds with the return on the road underdog New York Islanders at +205 odds. The goal over under line is set at 5 ½ goals.

The teams faced one another five times during the lockout season with Pittsburgh winning four of the five games. The lone Islander win came at Pittsburgh on January 29th by the score of 4-1. Pittsburgh won the other two home games by a 6-1 and 2-0 margin.

The Islanders are 14-6-1-3 on the road this season. They qualified as the eighth seed in the Eastern conference as they go through a stretch of winning six of seven games in the middle of the month. They close out the regular season losing three straight but gained two points with two shootout defeats in that span. The Islanders are ranked in the top seven in the league in two offensive categories which are goals and shots per game.

Pittsburgh is 18-6-0-0 playing on home ice. They are the number one seed in the Eastern conference and will have home ice advantage throughout the Eastern conference playoffs. At 72 points during the regular season they were nine points against the second seeded Montreal Canadians. With home ice clinched the Penguins dropped two of their past three games after an eight game win streak. Pittsburgh is the top scoring team in the NHL as they put up 3.4 goals a game. The team is second in the league on the power play as they convert on 24.7% on the man advantage.