Written by Graeme on Friday, January 3rd, 2020
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We start the year with a 2-0 night. And both wins were fairly easy which was nice to see.
We had the over in the Panthers/Senators game and that one was over by the end of the 2nd period. It was over 6.5 goals and Panthers were up 5-2 by that point. They ran out 6-3 winners and it was nice to see their offense perform on the road.
We had the over 6.5 in the Rangers/Flames game and that was another easy one. It hit 3-3 to guarantee us the win just 5:46 into the 2nd period. That was nice not having to sweat it considering both teams failed to score in the entire third period.
It was a night of heavy favourites and the underdogs you guys predicted mostly didn’t win. Blackhawks were the biggest vote with 90 out of 277 people saying they’d win. Canucks scored an incredible 7 though to win 7-5.
One underdog that did win was the Jackets which was what I was expecting. While it sucked not to officially back it, it was nice not having to sweat that one ha.
Leafs continue to look good as they put up a 6-3 win over the Jets. Andersen pulled off 45 saves there and it was just elite finishing from the Leafs.
How about those Islanders? Ouch.
It felt great starting with a win and it felt even greater not taking that Tampa/Habs over. After the way that started I thought it was a sure thing and I was mad at myself for not tipping it. However there was no more goals in the remaining two periods.
It was a good night of hockey with some close games and lots of action.
Two games tonight. No tips. Here’s the analysis:
Stars vs Red Wings: Stars are heavy, heavy favourites in this one. We’d have to take Stars -1.5. However Red Wings are coming in off a win and as we’ve seen this season, they rarely win just once then lose again. They usually carry that into the next game at least. Stars have a 3 game win streak coming into this one off the back of some tough results. I think the Stars will be flying high after the Winter Classic and will put in a lot of good performances this month including drubbing the Wings. I should note that Stars do a decent job at covering the spread at home when they win. If it’s close, Wings have conceded 50% of their games playing with an empty net. This is one I’ll probably regret not backing Stars -1.5.
Hurricanes vs Capitals: Another one I’ll probably regret – not taking the over here. My betting system strongly recommends it and so I’ve spent awhile looking into it. It has a strong potential to go over for sure, but also feels like one of those games where the two teams cancel each other out and it’s a tight one. I’d think Washington will be the more motivated team and want it more and they can be dangerous when that’s the case.
So no tips. Two strong leans on Stars -1.5 and the over 6.5 in the Canes/Capitals game. Just not enough checked boxes for me to back. I do think the poor December is affecting me a bit here with picks. At least one of these would normally be a 0.5 pick however it just takes time to get the confidence back. If I was to pick one I’d say Stars -1.5. Canes/Capitals over just seems more of a gamble. I think I’d actually prefer to be on the Capitals there to win.
What say you?
