| Range | W | L | P | +/- (Units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | -2.00 |
| Last 30 Days | 18 | 23 | 0.00 | -1.72 |
| Season to Date | 18 | 23 | 0.00 | -1.72 |
Minnesota is for 3 units. Edmonton is for 2 units
HOME TEAM IN CAPS
Minnesota -½ +175 over N.Y. RANGERS
Regulation only. The Rangers got very hot at the right time last year and rode that hot streak all the way to the Cup finals, where the L.A. Kings made them look like a second rate club. This year the Rangers are a .500 team with a 4-4 overall record and a 2-2 record at MSG and they're likely going to hover around that mark the entire year. The Rangers have won three of their last four but one victory came against the winless 'Canes, one came against the Sharkies in San Jose's third road game in four nights and the other came against the Devils in which the Rangers were trailing 3-1 with 10 minutes left in the third. The Rangers have lost three games by three goals to the Maple Leafs, Islanders and Jackets. They are not difficult to beat. The Rangers will win when they catch the opposition a little flat or in a difficult scheduling spot but that does not apply here.
The Wild have played just six games with three of those starting late in Colorado, Anaheim and L.A. Two other games occurred against Arizona and Tampa Bay, which are not exactly marquee match-ups. In other words, the market has not really seen just how good this edition of the Wild is and we're going to take advantage of that. First, Minnesota is hungrier than a pack of hyenas. They got a small taste of success last year with one series win over Colorado and despite losing to Chicago in the second round, they were the better team. Now they're serious contenders and every player on that team can feel it. When they went into L.A. in their third game of the season and lost 2-1, they absolutely dominated the Kings, out-shooting them 41-16. In the Wilds' first two games of the year, they outscored Colorado 8-0 and they now have three shutouts in six games. They also defeated the Bolts 7-2. This team is built like the Kings. Minnesota is loaded with perhaps the best group of two-way forwards in the league. They are as good behind the blue-line as any team in the league, which makes it very difficult to sustain pressure in their end for extended periods of time. The Wild do not get to play at MSG often and in fact, they have only played here twice since 2009. MSG is one of those buildings that every player in the league looks forward to playing at and the Wild figure to respond. New York should not be favored. If these two teams played a seven-game series starting right here, Minnesota would do to the Rangers what Los Angeles did to them in the finals last year only the Wild would put a worse beating on them because New York is in way worse form now than they were then. We don't need OT here and so we'll play the Wild on the 3-way line to win it in regulation and we'll step it up and play it
EDMONTON +129 over Montreal
OT included. Luck is a factor in every sport. There are several games every week that result in the team that played worse winning the game (See Philadelphia at Arizona in the NFL yesterday). Luck can hold up for weeks and even months sometimes, as we see with very average pitchers in MLB winning games consistently for an entire season. Eventually, however, luck evens out over time and we mention this because the Canadiens 7-1 record has been a result of nothing but pure luck. The Habs, if all things were equal, should be 2-6 or at best 3-4. Against Washington, they were dominated for long stretches throughout before scoring the equalizer very late in the third and winning it in OT. The next game, they rallied from three down in the third to defeat Philly. Against Boston, they won 6-4 when Tuukka Rask had a rare bad game. When you have Rask in net and you score four times, you are going to win 98% of the time. Against Colorado in the very next game, Montreal won 3-2 and scored two goals by two different players who were coming out of the box when the puck hit their sticks and sent them on a breakaway. For most teams, that happens once a year, for Montreal it happened twice in one game. It doesn't stop there. The Red Wings had a 1-0 lead over Montreal in the third when Detroit scored to make it 2-0 with about 7 minutes remaining but the zebras didn't like the goal and waved it off. Called it goaltender interference when in fact it was not. Naturally Montreal scored with 3 minutes left and won in OT. We're not suggesting that the Habs are a poor team. When you have great goaltending you always have a chance and Montreal has a significant edge in net almost every time they play. But they are not a 7-1 team, not even close and so a correction in their W/L record is forthcoming and we'll put that to the test here.
