Written by Scott on Friday, November 18th, 2022
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It was a busy night with 13 games and I had 2 tips and went 1-1.
I had the Bruins -1.5 against the Flyers and they covered when they won 4-1. Krejci scored twice for the Bruins.
The loss was my tip of the Canadiens to beat the Jackets but the Jackets won 6-4. With all of the injuries the Jackets have it was surprising to see them score 6 times.
The Devils beat the Leafs 3-2 in overtime to extend their win streak to 11 games. The Pens beat the Wild 6-4 and Crosby did Crosby things scoring twice and adding 2 helpers.
The Avalanche beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime and the Canes outshot the Avs 48-15 in the loss. The Stars beat the Panthers 6-4 but in the 2nd period Scott Wedgwood made a couple saves and he immediately removed his blocker and clutched his lower back and was taking off the ice on a stretcher.
The Blues won their 4th straight when they beat the Caps 6-5 in a shootout. The Kraken beat the Rangers 3-2 in OT and the Wings beat the Sharks 7-4.
Only 1 game tonight and I have no tip.
Kings vs Canucks
Both teams won their last game.
The Kings have gone 7-2-1 over their last 10 and the Canucks have gone 5-4-1.
The Kings are in the road where they have gone 5-4-1, the Canucks are at home where they have gone 2-3-1.
I would lean towards a Kings win as they have been playing well but the Canucks know they have to fix their mess.
The Canucks have had a rough season. The opened with a 7 game losing skid and their last win snapped a 3 game skid. With their bad play it’s only a matter of time until their head coach Boudreau is fired. The team knows this so they may find a way to string together some wins to save his job.
I have to skip this game. With rumors of Boudreau’s job on the line the Canucks might show up.
Tough call. The OVER 6.5 is popular, and the OVER 6.0 seems safe, but I can just smell an Under showing up when so much seems to go one way.
I think it important to note Vancouver’s schedule has been brutal, and they should file a complaint with the NHL schedulers. In the last 10 games, they’ve played THREE back-to-backs, and all three of those back-to-backs involved away games (travel and a threat of it disrupting R&R and preventing any quality practices). Vancouver has had two days off to reset. They should be feeling energetic and vengeful tonight, they don’t play again until Monday.
Both teams score steadily. Both teams take a lot of penalties, both have poor penalty kill % and have adequate to great powerplay %. Vancouver has a goal-producing polarization; 38% powerplay and a league-worst penalty kill of 63%. The signs this game goes OVER are substantial.
Why would it go UNDER? Vancouver plays better at home and their goals for/against drop slightly at home vs their season average. It’s early in the season and average numbers may be meaningless. Vancouver may just feel wiped out and want rest time, especially if they have play-through injuries or travel exhaustion accumulated. LA has a tougher game tomorrow against Seattle, so how will they focus tonight? That’s what the game pivots on tonight, if you ask me, the motivation level of Los Angeles.