Written by Scott on Monday, February 6th, 2023
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Well the All-Star break was a fun watch.
The Skills were interesting and the new golf/hockey challenge was pretty cool.
The Atlantic beat the Central 7-5. Matthew Tkachuk was the MVP with 7 points.
Was fun seeing Crosby and Ovechkin on the same line after being rivals throughout their careers.
6 games for us tonight.
Islanders vs Flyers
This is a matchup of the 6th and 7th place teams in the Metro. The Isles road record of 10-13-3 is really close to the Flyers home record of 10-12-2.
Both teams are low in the GPG rankings with the Isles 25th and the Flyers 27th. The Isles are 8th in GAPG and the Flyers 18th.
I would lean towards an Isles win especially now that they have Horvat but their record over the last 10 is 3-5-2 and the Flyers won the last game between these teams.
I have to skip.
Lightning vs Panthers
Battle of Florida games are usually fun to watch. The Lightning are in 3rd in the Atlantic and the Panthers 5th.
Against teams from within the divison the Lightning are 9-5 and the Panthers 9-3-2. They are both ranked high in goal per game with the Lightning 4th with 3.63 and the Panthers 7th with 3.40.
They have played twice this season and the Lightning have won both of them.
I do like the Lightning to win but the Panthers just hosted the All-Star game so they may be flying high.
Flames vs Rangers
The Flames are in 5th in the Pacific and are in 9th place in the West. They are tied with the Avalanche but the Avs have played 2 fewer games. They need to get their shit together to not fall any further in the standings.
The Rangers are in 3rd in the Metro and will need to have a strong finish to the season to guarantee themselves a spot in the postseason.
This should be a good game between 2 teams in need of points. It could go either way so I’m skipping.
Canucks vs Devils
The Canucks have gone 3-7 and the Devils 8-1-1 over last 10.
The Devils are in 2nd in the Metro but aren’t yet comfortable. They have 68 points, the Canes are leading the divison with 76 and the Rangers are in 3rd only 6 points back.
The Devils need to win games against teams that have struggled like the Canucks to gain as many points as they can to better their position. Over the last 10 meetings between these teams the Devils are 9-1 going back to 2017.
Devils in regulation
Ontario: 1.71 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
Rest of Canada: 1.71 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
USA: -160 Odds at Bovada
Everyone Else: 1.71 Odds at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv
(Odds correct as of 2023/02/06 8:27:11 AM EST but are subject to change.)
Ducks vs Stars
The Stars are leading the Central and look, to me, to be a legitimate threat this season. Going into the break they went 4-2-4.
The Ducks are 20 points out of the playoffs and can an assume the roll of spoiler at this point.
The Stars should win this game. They are ranked 8th in GPG and the Ducks 32nd, 2nd in GAPG and the Ducks 32nd. The Ducks are ranked at or near the bottom in all stats so it’s been a rough season for them.
The Stars last 3 games were losses and each was in overtime so I can’t back them here when it would need to be -1.5.
Wild vs Coyotes
The Wild are in 3rd in the Central. They have 58 points in 48 games, the Central leading Stars are only 8 points ahead of them but have played 51 games.
The Coyotes are 7th in the Central and 19 points out of the playoffs. They have gone 3-6-1 over last 10 and are basically eliminated from the playoffs.
They have played twice this season and the Wild won both but each game was decided by a single goal. I do think the Wild win here but it would need to be -1.5 and after the previous results I can’t do it.
Leans: full games OVER 6.0:
Tampa/Florida and Canucks/Devils
No other bets.
Minnesota doesn’t impress me, and on the road against a feisty Coyotes team in a toy arena. Nope. Dallas should win but knows they’re in a comfortable, sustainable Division lead and won’t care much about this opponent, they’ll be focused on their very challenging four games after that. While Anaheim has four wins in their last five games, it was the pre-break slacking off of other teams that allowed that. I don’t see anything I like for consistency out of either Calgary or the Rangers. Islanders game: not yet, we’ll see what the trades produce.
Tampa Bay Nikita Kucherov to score +145