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Vegas Play of the Day: Penguins at Islanders

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AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby in action during an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, in Philadelphia.

Fri, Jan 5, 2018 (12:21 p.m.)

We’ve entered the fourth season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.

Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won back-to-back titles in the 2015-2016 and 2016-17 seasons, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015.

Pittsburgh Penguins minus-105 at New York Islanders: $525 to win $500

These are clearly not the same Pittsburgh Penguins that have hoisted the Stanley Cup the last two summers.

Pittsburgh is off to its worst start in a long time, with a record below .500 at 20-19-3, and is only one point ahead of the last-place Flyers in the Metropolitan Division.

Having said that, the Penguins are still better than the Islanders, and I think there’s value in this game. Both teams are playing in their second game of a back-to-back, so there’s no edge there for either side. And while it doesn’t inspire much confidence that Pittsburgh is fresh off a 4-0 loss, it might be better than up-and-down 6-4 loss the Islanders suffered last night.

Expect a big game from the Penguins’ second line of Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist. They may be 4-9 in their last 13 games (with two of those wins coming in a shootout) but I still believe the Penguins are a better team than they’ve shown to this point.

Current Standings: Granger (12-9, $12,819), Brewer (21-18, $10,310), Keefer (18-18-1, $9,781), Grimala (8-12, $6,665)

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