Picks: Wild Look to Extend Canes’ Losing Streak
2-3: Good work last night recognizing the Flames had value on the road over the Leafs but a tough night with the game totals. Some of the best defenses in the league collapsed all at once last night and easily ruined 3 unders! We’re looking at a couple games today but due to time constraints, the fan pick will be for the Sharks vs. Hawks game tonight.
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Minnesota Wild -110 at Carolina Hurricanes -110
I’ve been dumping on Carolina a lot lately and deservedly so. Michael Leighton is going tonight and he is 0-2 with a 4.55 GAA in 2 career starts vs. Minnesota and 0-2 with a 5.12 GAA on the season. Until Cam Ward comes back, Carolina will have a lot of trouble regardless of where they’re playing. Minnesota has struggled a bit over their last two, dropping to Washington and Tampa Bay back-to-back on the road but will round out their road trip tonight. Until Carolina starts doing anything productive, it’s difficult looking at them on the same level as the Wild.
Pick: Wild -110
Edmonton Oilers +135 at Atlanta Thrashers -155
Atlanta looks like the team that terrorized opposition netminders at the beginning of the season after outscoring opponents 15-5 during their 3-game win streak. Ilya Kovalchuk is back and leading this Thrashers’ top-ranked offense overall with 3.8 goals per game and 4.1 goals per game at home. The Oilers haven’t travelled well this season, only managing 2.3 goals per game on the road and allowing 3.0 goals per game. Edmonton is 2-6-1 on the road this season and amazingly haven’t won a game when visiting Eastern Conference teams, going 0-3-1. Atlanta has only played 7 home games this season but 3 of their 4 home losses have come against very difficult opponents in Washington and San Jose. I wouldn’t rank Edmonton has a challenging opponent with those clubs and we should see more of Atlanta’s recent home domination this afternoon.
Pick: Thrashers -155
San Jose Sharks +115 at Chicago Blackhawks -135
The Sharks are a force, easily rebounding from a rough night against Dallas to keep the Blues in check. They feature the 3rd-ranked defense overall and the 5th-ranked offense which is only getting better with the return of more of their key scoring threats. The Blackhawks have also recently seen their top scorers return from injury but it hasn’t had much of an effect on the scoresheet for them, as they’ve scored more than 3 goals only 1 time in their last 10 games – and that was against a struggling Kings team. Their defense, however, has been superb contributing to the 5th-ranked defense overall. The Hawks are fortunate to catch the Sharks on a back-to-back night as the Sharks dropped the second set in back-to-back road games earlier in the month. The Sharks have also gone under in the second game of road back-to-backs both times it has occurred this season. Chicago is riding a 3-game home winning streak leading to a 9-2-1 home record. These teams are too close to predict a winner but two top-five defenses squaring off leaves the under as a solid play.
Pick: Under 5.5 goals -125
Fan Favourite Record: 2-3, -2.07
Betting results by category so far this season:
- Money Line 40-38, -18.78
- Puck Line 7-16, -7.3
- Game Totals 37-24-1, +3.61