Calgary Flames -.5 -140
[Unit and a half play]
The Flames come into this game losers of four of their last five. But when you see that they just got back from a five game road trip and lost to Montreal, Ottawa, and New Jersey, (while beating Minnesota and Colorado) you can excuse their first game at home loss to Detroit. The tough six game stretch didn’t ruin their playoff chances as they still sit in eighth place of the west.
After this game against Phoenix they go back to the road to play at St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado? Don’t these guys get a break?
Actually they do and it’s tonight. Forget Pittsburgh, Phoenix is the worst team in the league….by far!
I’m not going to spout off statistics as it’s not necessary. Calgary will not let this one game respite of a two week scheduling nightmare to escape them. They will win and it will be convincing.
I’m very confident of this pick and I‘m playing this game as a double unit play but for the sake of record keeping I will only list it as a unit and a half. Leap year only comes every four years and so doesn’t a play like this!
Florida Panthers -.5 +125
Yeah Florida looked bad against Washington who was a shell of a team last Friday night and yes they burned me once but I’m not convinced they aren’t going to make some sort of run for the playoffs and if they do, a victory tonight is necessary. That loss at home on Friday possibly could have been the best thing to have happen to set up tonight’s game. At least you have to think they won’t come in flat.
The Panthers are only nine points out of the playoffs and have two games coming up they can not let get away from them, (tonight and at Washington on Tuesday).
Roberto Luongo continues to lead this team while their offense remains ordinary at best. But the lack of scoring hasn’t limited their victories as they were 6-2-2 before Friday‘s game. Until that four goal loss against Washington, Florida and Luongo had only allowed three goals in the last five games. They should get back on that type of allowance against Chicago who haven’t exactly set the world on fire with their offense and now play without Scott Sullivan and Alex Zhamnov who were crucial weapons of their attack.
No matter which goalie, (Anderson or Leighton) is in net for Chicago, Florida will have enough fire power to walk away with two points here.
Dallas Stars -.5 -145
Another heavy favorite but another that is more than deserving to play with this match up.
SWO poster Randy bought up a interesting question regarding a home ice advantage with a team accustomed to a fast skating surface coming to the rough ice conditions of Dallas’ ACC. He mentioned Edmonton in his post and to answer your question Randy, (at least in regard to the Oilers), it would appear that they would be at a disadvantage. In the last four years Dallas has a record of 13-2 at home against Edmonton outscoring them 48-23. That in my mind would be proof enough of your theory. And reason enough to back Dallas today.
However to convince me even more I need to look further into current form and I see Dallas and Marty Turco are both gearing up for the playoffs and playing winning hockey. Winners of eight of their last twelve at home, (8-1-2) and ten of fifteen over all, (10-2-3).
Not only does Dallas benefit from the terrible ice at home but it would appear the Marty Turco does as well. In his last 21 starts he has only allowed 28 goals. Eight of those came in two games giving him a 1.05 GAA for the remaining 19 games. His record over that 21 game stretch is 14-2-5.
Edmonton has played well recently in their push to a playoff birth. They stand in tenth place seven points behind Calgary for the last spot. They are 6-3-2 in their last 12 games. However they are 3-8-2 on the road in their last 13 and 10-16-6 for the year. (and 7-16-5 as a road dog) They are missing winger Brad Isbister, and centers Marty Reasoner, Mike York while the Stars report no major injured players.
I have to go with the hot team, the trends and some miserable ice.
NHL single unit plays………70-50-5.…+ 20.11
Unit and a half plays…………8-2-1.…. + 9.195
NHL total to Date……………78-52-6.…+ 29.305
[Unit and a half play]
The Flames come into this game losers of four of their last five. But when you see that they just got back from a five game road trip and lost to Montreal, Ottawa, and New Jersey, (while beating Minnesota and Colorado) you can excuse their first game at home loss to Detroit. The tough six game stretch didn’t ruin their playoff chances as they still sit in eighth place of the west.
After this game against Phoenix they go back to the road to play at St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, and Colorado? Don’t these guys get a break?
Actually they do and it’s tonight. Forget Pittsburgh, Phoenix is the worst team in the league….by far!
I’m not going to spout off statistics as it’s not necessary. Calgary will not let this one game respite of a two week scheduling nightmare to escape them. They will win and it will be convincing.
I’m very confident of this pick and I‘m playing this game as a double unit play but for the sake of record keeping I will only list it as a unit and a half. Leap year only comes every four years and so doesn’t a play like this!
Florida Panthers -.5 +125
Yeah Florida looked bad against Washington who was a shell of a team last Friday night and yes they burned me once but I’m not convinced they aren’t going to make some sort of run for the playoffs and if they do, a victory tonight is necessary. That loss at home on Friday possibly could have been the best thing to have happen to set up tonight’s game. At least you have to think they won’t come in flat.
The Panthers are only nine points out of the playoffs and have two games coming up they can not let get away from them, (tonight and at Washington on Tuesday).
Roberto Luongo continues to lead this team while their offense remains ordinary at best. But the lack of scoring hasn’t limited their victories as they were 6-2-2 before Friday‘s game. Until that four goal loss against Washington, Florida and Luongo had only allowed three goals in the last five games. They should get back on that type of allowance against Chicago who haven’t exactly set the world on fire with their offense and now play without Scott Sullivan and Alex Zhamnov who were crucial weapons of their attack.
No matter which goalie, (Anderson or Leighton) is in net for Chicago, Florida will have enough fire power to walk away with two points here.
Dallas Stars -.5 -145
Another heavy favorite but another that is more than deserving to play with this match up.
SWO poster Randy bought up a interesting question regarding a home ice advantage with a team accustomed to a fast skating surface coming to the rough ice conditions of Dallas’ ACC. He mentioned Edmonton in his post and to answer your question Randy, (at least in regard to the Oilers), it would appear that they would be at a disadvantage. In the last four years Dallas has a record of 13-2 at home against Edmonton outscoring them 48-23. That in my mind would be proof enough of your theory. And reason enough to back Dallas today.
However to convince me even more I need to look further into current form and I see Dallas and Marty Turco are both gearing up for the playoffs and playing winning hockey. Winners of eight of their last twelve at home, (8-1-2) and ten of fifteen over all, (10-2-3).
Not only does Dallas benefit from the terrible ice at home but it would appear the Marty Turco does as well. In his last 21 starts he has only allowed 28 goals. Eight of those came in two games giving him a 1.05 GAA for the remaining 19 games. His record over that 21 game stretch is 14-2-5.
Edmonton has played well recently in their push to a playoff birth. They stand in tenth place seven points behind Calgary for the last spot. They are 6-3-2 in their last 12 games. However they are 3-8-2 on the road in their last 13 and 10-16-6 for the year. (and 7-16-5 as a road dog) They are missing winger Brad Isbister, and centers Marty Reasoner, Mike York while the Stars report no major injured players.
I have to go with the hot team, the trends and some miserable ice.
NHL single unit plays………70-50-5.…+ 20.11
Unit and a half plays…………8-2-1.…. + 9.195
NHL total to Date……………78-52-6.…+ 29.305
