| Range | W | L | P | +/- (Units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yesterday | 2 | 1 | 0.00 | +3.82 |
| Last 30 Days | 27 | 26 | 0.00 | +13.90 |
| Season to Date | 116 | 128 | 0.00 | +32.81 |
All plays are for 2 units
POSTED AT 11:30 AM EST.
MINNESOTA -½ +118 over Vancouver
Regulation only. The Canucks are coming off a nice 5-0 win over Pittsburgh but Vancouver was not as dominating as the score would suggest. They didn’t need to be dominating because they built an early 3-0 lead and pretty much cruised to a win. It was also Pittsburgh’s third game in four days on the Canadian West Coast. Vancouver is just 3-4 over its past seven. One of those victories occurred against Buffalo. In their four losses over that span, the Canucks have been outscored by San Jose, Anaheim, Tampa Bay and Minnesota by a combined 17-4. Vancouver is a capable team but it’s been quite some time since they’ve thrived in important games and until we see them respond when the chips are down, we’re more than happy to fade them.
As long as this Minnesota freight train keeps paying off, we’ll continue to ride it. The Wild are coming off a 1-0 victory over Colorado on Saturday night but don’t be fooled by the score. Minnesota had a 17-3 shot advantage after the first period and had the Avs running around in their own end the entire game. They ran into a hot goaltender otherwise they would have won by five goals. The Wild are just five points behind Vancouver and Calgary for the final playoff spot and could cut that lead to three here. Minnesota has won five straight and seven of eight with Devan Dubnyk being in net every game. Since being acquired from Arizona on January 14, Dubnyk has a 1.31 GAA. He’s given this Wild squad a huge boost and now they can’t wait to come to the rink. The Wild still haven’t peaked yet. They have scored just 11 times over their last five games but they’ve had the chances so it’s only a matter of time before pucks start going in. Their PP ranks 26th in the league but that’s going to change too because only two other teams have more shots on net during the PP than Minnesota. During this current 7-1 run, Minnesota has allowed 24 shots on net or fewer six times. We’ve mentioned all year that analytics like the Wild a lot. Finally equipped with reliable goaltending, Minnesota is now playing with a ton of confidence. With the Canucks in its sight, this is absolutely one of Minnesota’s biggest games this season and we expect a big game from them.
COLUMBUS +116 over Los Angeles
OT included. We missed a big opportunity on Saturday to cash in on the Jackets at +144 in Ottawa. We looked at that game closely and thought it was a huge trap, which is the only reason we weren’t on it. Sick we felt, as the Jackets kept adding to their lead and winning 4-1. The night before defeating Ottawa 4-1, Columbus defeated St. Louis, 7-1. Isn’t this the time of year that the Jackets get hot every season? Columbus has the talent to make the playoffs and even do damage if they get there but those traditional slow starts puts them in a hole they can’t get out of. The Jackets are the only team to defeat Minnesota with Devan Dubnyk in goal. That game was in Minnesota. They also have recent victories over Boston, Washington and St. Louis and were in a good position to defeat the Bolts recently as well. The Jackets are a live pooch. They’re a bit banged up on defense but so are the Kings.
The Kings went into Tampa Bay on Saturday and defeated the red-hot Bolts 4-2. They also ended Tampa’s 11-game home winning streak. Everyone is just waiting for the Kings to go off and that win on Saturday appears to be the game that could propel them. Maybe so, but that win also increased their stock far too much, which makes us instant sellers. Let us point out that L.A. scored three times on nine shots on Ben Bishop in the first period before Bishop was yanked. They scored one more late in the third. L.A. was outshot 29-28 against T.B. and they have now outshot one opponent over their last seven games. The Kings’ six road wins this season is third worst in the league ahead of only Buffalo and Edmonton. We’re not 10 games into the season and talking about a slow start here. We’re 52 games in and Los Angeles is 5-11 against top-10 teams and 11-18 against top-16 teams. The Kings’ strength of schedule ranks 24th out of 30 teams and their advanced stats say they are a fringe playoff team this season. This is also L.A.’s final game of a four game trip before they come home to host Calgary. That’s another key to this fade, as Kings’ Coach Darryl Sutter wants to beat Calgary more than any other team and a one goal win wouldn’t do it. He wants to beat Calgary by 10 goals because he’s already lost three times to them this year and has a lot of hard feelings towards that franchise. Regardless, with six wins in 24 road games, L.A. cannot be favored in this range.
Arizona +250 over CHICAGO
OT included. We’re going to take a shot here because the price in this situation is too good to ignore. Upsets happen in sports all the time because of situations just like this one. No team can maintain intensity for a full 82 game schedule. It’s impossible. On their worst day, Chicago is still capable of defeating the Coyotes but Arizona figures to be a ton more energized and focused, which makes them very worthy here. Chicago is coming off a huge win on NBC yesterday afternoon in St. Louis. They also return home from a grueling 8-game trip that started in Pittsburgh but we’ll call it a seven-game trip that started in L.A. because that first game was before the All-Star break. That game in L.A was on January 28. That’s seven games in 11 days all on the road. This is now Chicago’s eighth game in 12 days and third in four days. The Blackhawks quite simply have to be running on fumes here. The Blackhawks already defeated the ‘Yotes 6-1 this season so they are going to figure that all they have to do to win here is show up. In terms of situational betting, it really doesn’t get better than this for a big upset to occur.
You take a Dave Tippett coached team lightly and there’s a good chance of getting burned. Yippett has the Coyotes playing some very decent hockey these days. Arizona is 3-3 over its last six games. They played the Red Wings extremely tough on Saturday and they have recent wins over Columbus and Montreal, both on the road. In fact, Arizona has picked up points in four of six and had they not taken six minors against Detroit on Saturday, they probably would’ve won that one too. Arizona has some recent call-ups that have injected some energy into the entire team. Lucas Lessio and Brendan Shinnimin are centered by Sam Gagne and that trio has been fantastic on Arizona’s third line. The ‘Yotes now have three lines playing well. Mike Smith in goal has been rock-solid too since he is no longer splitting duties with Devan Dubnyk. Arizona is not an easy out. They play their hearts out every night and they’re looking a lot more dangerous right now than they were in the first half of the season. We love the price on them here and we absolutely love the favorable situation. It could happen and we would not be a bit surprised if it did.
