Computer Picks: Saturday, November 6th, 2010

After an extended summer spent in sleep mode, the system has been rebooted and is ready to break down the numbers. Sure, hockey isn’t played on the stats sheet, but what happens on the ice stays in the database, and is used to make the following predictions. Here are how this Saturday’s NHL games break down into bits and bytes.

INDEX:

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Games: Now that all the lines are finally out (Saturday morning), here are breakdowns of all 12 of today’s NHL games, along with some brief editorial comments.

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Nashville Predators at LA Kings

Scoring across the league is on the decline right now, and the Under was 3-1 last season in this head-to-head series. Hopefully, the Preds worked on their PK in practice.

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St Louis Blues at Boston Bruins

Sorry for the overnight flip-flop, but a goaltending change from Tim Thomas to Tuukka Rask apparently makes a huge statistical difference. Personally, I don’t see much value with either side. 

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Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs

Desperate teams call for desperate measures? I guess the Leafs haven’t really been that much better than the Sabres lately (not 45 cents at home better?).

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Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens

This line might look a little fishy, but it looks like there is a fair amount of money coming in on the Sens. The Habs beat the Sens in a back-to-back situation as well on October 16th.

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Minnesota Wild at Columbus Blue Jackets

Mathieu Garon is beast! Get out of his way before he devours your shots on goal and your pride… Actually, -165 is a bit steep for my liking.

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Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes

It’s a revenge spot for Carolina, but get this–the Cats put up 50 shots on the Canes last night. Good signs for the underdog and the over.

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Chicago Blackhawks at Atlanta Thrashers

It’s generally a bad idea–actually, a terrible idea, to bet a -150 road favourite in the NHL. The Blackhawks aren’t exactly ripping it up either. The value is clearly with Atlanta here.

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Philadelphia Flyers at New York Islanders

I would actually consider betting this -150 road favourite because the Isles are a disaster, but then again, I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m pretty sure there are better bets out there.

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Pittsburgh Penguins at Phoenix Coyotes

Not too excited about placing money on either of these two teams these days.

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Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche

Everyone’s probably thinking “Over 5.5” here, and I guess it makes sense. At -140 though, I don’t know if it’s really worth it. 

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Detroit Red Wings at Vancouver Canucks

Detroit vs Vancouver games are usually pretty competitive. I don’t see any reason to make a strong play on this game.

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Tampa Bay Lightning at San Jose Sharks

Both teams are coming off shutout losses, and San Jose hasn’t scored in two games! How is that for motivation? First period over 1.5 goals might be worth thinking about.

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Thought Bubble: This doesn’t look like a very good betting board today…