Written by Scott on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024
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It was a busy night of NHL action yesterday with 13 games. Went 1-1 with the tips.
Had the Oilers to win in regulation against the Flyers and they did 5-2 for their 6th straight win. Also had the Avalanche to win in regulation against the Islanders but they needed overtime to get it done so it was a loss.
The Bruins picked up their 4th win in a row when they beat the Jackets 4-1. The Canes beat the Rangers 6-1. After scoring only 5 goals over their last 4 games the Caps put up 4 when they beat the Pens 4-3, Ovechkin and Crosby both scored which was pretty great.
The Lightning scored first but the Jets responded with 4 unanswered and held on for the 4-2 win. The Leafs beat the Ducks 3-0, the Canucks beat the Sens 6-3 and the Canadiens beat the Stars 4-3.
A much slower night with only 2 games.
Devils vs Capitals Betting Tips:
These teams have played each other twice with the Caps winning both.
The Devils were 5-4-1 over last 10 heading into the Christmas break. They are 8th in GPG but 29th in GAPG. 12th in shots on goal and 8th in SOGA.
The Caps played yesterday and won against the Pens. They played 4 back to back sets last month and went 3-0-1 in the 2nd game with one of their wins coming against the Blackhawks and the other 2 needing extra time.
With them having played yesterday and somewhat finding their offense they may have a shot here. But the Devils have been good on the road going 11-6. I’m going to pass.
Leafs vs Ducks Betting Tips:
The Leafs played yesterday and won 3-0 against the Ducks. They have gone 4-4-2 last 10 and are ranked 6th in goals, 7th in shots and 22nd in goals allowed.
The Ducks have lost their last 2 games and are 3-7 over last 10. They haven’t had a good year statistically ranking 29th in GPG, 26th in shots, 22nd in GAPG and 25th in shots allowed. They are at home in this game and they have gone a lousy 6-14-0 in Anaheim.
As much as I want to take the Leafs I just can’t. Their goaltending situation is a mess and it’s hard to back them at the moment when their top two goalies aren’t playing.
Lean only:
Full game UNDER 7.0: Jersey/Caps
The public will be all over a Toronto win tonight but the Leafs have a VERY hard time putting two wins in a row together (back-to-back tonight), including recent losses to Columbus (2 losses), Buffalo and Ottawa (none of those four losses were back-to-back situations). Only four wins in their last 10 games. LA’s schedule suggests the Kings could have decided to not put total commitment into yesterday’s game.
Leafs stats and situation say this should be a win against a highly penalized bottom tier team like Anaheim, but the risk provided by Toronto seems obvious. Leafs look-ahead is a no-worry situation with two games against San Jose on deck after 2 days off in the sunshine, but the Leafs cannot be trusted to show up against lesser teams, and a non-Conference road trip, no way. Leafs self-chosen top priority this week may be sourcing tubes of SPF 50 suntan lotion.
A 5-2 Leafs win is no more likely than a 3-2 Ducks win.
PWHL WATCH: the league is just starting their first games this week, and I have no idea yet how to research games. Far too many new names to me. Bookies don’t yet show the games to bet on, but BET365 is at least showing a space to eventually do that. I’m just guessing here, that in perhaps a week, we see the PWHL games listed for betting, once some results come in and player/team quality can more reliably estimated in any way. The NHL teams take few weeks or more to get their act together at the start of a season before they figure out what they really are, and the PWHL will face this task for a few weeks. Even the refereeing seems faced with that same task, to a lesser degree. I’ve seen two games now and look forward to the full season.