I’ve been pretty busy lately, so I haven’t been able to get my predictions written up here on the site, but today I have some time, I’ve done the research and I really like a winner for each of tonights game six matchups.
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa gave the Penguins a wake up call in game 5 with an impressive 8-2 shellacking, chasing Fleury out of the net after 4 goals and continuing to run the score up against Brent Johnson. Pittsburgh has been the better team for the majority of the series and I do not expect one bad game to affect this very experienced playoff team. Fleury should be back in net tonight and on top of his game. The Penguins still outshot the Lightning in Saturdays game, but it is expected that the Penguins will need more opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net than a Lightning team that includes many top scorers in the league. The Penguins will bounce back tonight and outplay the Lightning in order to prevent a game 7.
San Jose Sharks @ Los Angeles Kings
This has been a very interesting series with a lot of ups and downs for both teams. The Sharks came into the series as the biggest favourite in any of the 8 series, mainly because the Kings had lost Anze Kopitar near the end of the season and the Sharks had a tremendous last third of the season. If the Sharks can score first tonight they should be able to hold on to win the series. The Sharks have been letting themselves get behind in games early, which has caused them to lose their 2 games in the series. They are lucky to be up in the series at the moment because their remarkable comeback from 4-0 down in game 3 was a minor miracle. If the Sharks can score early or even just prevent the Kings from scoring early they will win this game.
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It has been an interesting weekend in the NHL playoffs and tonight four important 3rd games are set to take place. The Red Wings and Canadiens look to take strangeholds on their series’ while the Flyers, Sabres, Penguins and Lightning head to the ice with the hopes of winning a pivotal game 3.
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning
The Penguins have had the entire weekend to think about their big 5-1 loss at the hands of the Lightning on Friday night. Fleury likely wishes he had a few of those goals back and will be chomping at the bit tonight in order to put that loss behind him with a strong outing. A lot went wrong for the Penguins on Friday night and although they outshot the Lightning 36-21 there was not a lot of good to take from the game. The Pens also outplayed Tampa in game one outshooting their opponents 40-32, but their strong defensive play did not allow the Lightning as many quality scoring chances and Marc Andre Fleury stood on his head when called upon. The Penguins will have to once again focus on defensive hockey because their chances will come. The only problem is that the Penguins will likely need more chances to put the puck in the net because without their top scorers Crosby and Malkin, the team is built mainly with grinders, as opposed to the Lightning who have a lot of skilled players up front who will bury their chances more often than not. The Penguins should be able to return to their game one form in this one and the betting line is likely taking the lopsided game 2 score into account too much as well as the strong home record of the Lightning.
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Buffalo came through for us as expected last night with Ryan Miller having a great game to kick off the Sabres playoff campaign and our NHL playoff betting on that series. Tonight I like two of the game 2 lines, one so much that it will be the Game of the Week pick! The Game of the Week selection will be sent out via email at 5pm EST, so if you haven’t signed up to receive our top predictions yet, do so in the form at the bottom of this post.
Chicago Blackhawks @ Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks won the first game between these teams, but the Blackhawks looked like they got their legs under them in the third and really pressed for the last ten minutes. One thing you can say about the Blackhawks is they take losing personally and they will truly believe that they are the best team in the playoffs even after backing into 8th place. Jonathan Toews will have the troops ready to go in this game and the Canucks will be hard pressed to keep the top two lines of the Blackhawks off the scoreboard two days in a row. Seabrook and Keith did a good job keeping the Sedin’s off the board in game 1 and you should expect these two to continue their solid defensive game tonight.
The Canucks only outshot the ‘Hawks by 1 in game 1 and a solid Canucks blog had the scoring chances at only 21-18 for the Canucks. In both the last two series between these teams, where the Blackhawks won each, the Canucks have won the first game of the series. In fact the Canucks have lost the second game of their last 5 playoff series after winning game 1. Expect another tally in the game 2 loss column for the Canucks tonight.
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Last night the playoffs got started and it was a great night of hockey. Ovechkin and Semin came through to get the Capitals a comeback overtime victory over the Rangers, while Luongo was able to overcome his demons and shutout the Blackhawks 2-0. In the other games Mike Fisher led the Preds to a 4-1 victory with two lethal wrist shots, while Detroit outclassed the Coyotes and Fleury held the high powered Tampa Bay offense off the score sheet. Tonight there are three games and I really like the line for the Sabres vs Flyers game.
(7)Buffalo Sabres @ (2)Philadephia Flyers
The Sabres and Flyers kick off their series, which many people believe will be one of the tightest in the first round. If you believe in momentum then you would be taking the Sabres, while if you believe in experience and potential you would be betting on the Flyers. The Sabres come into this first game having won 4 straight and 9 of their last 12, while the Flyers won only 9 of their last 25 and have really stumbled in the latter part of the season. The absence of Chris Pronger seems to have really hurt the Flyers, especially on the power play where the Flyers seem to be running around without an objective. The calming presence of Pronger on the blue line is a very big part of this team and the Sabres should be able to take advantage of his not being in the lineup tonight.
The goaltending matchup should be Miller vs Bobrovsky this evening and although Bobrovsky has had a great year you have to give the edge to Miller because we know how good he can be and he has experience playing in high pressure situations. The Sabres will have to focus on shutting down Danny Briere and Claude Giroux, the former being a great playoff performer (look at last year) and the latter having come into his own this season as the top forward on the team.
For the Sabres Thomas Vanek will be looked upon to carry the offense, something that he has been doing near the end of the season (6 points in his last 2 games). Look to Vanek to continue this pace into tonights game.
The Sabres should be able to pull off the upset in this game and this should set the tone for the series. I even bet on the Sabres winning this series in a sweep.
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(1) Vancouver Canucks
(8) Chicago Blackhawks
The Canucks were the top team in the league throughout the season and actually became the first team ever to finish with the most goals for, the fewest goals against, the most power play goals and the fewest power play goals allowed. They have been the best team an NHL regular season has seen in sometime. On the other hand the Blackhawks essentially backed in to the playoffs, needing Dallas to lose to Minnesota in order to claim the 8th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. This allowed the ‘Hawks to defend their title and try to eliminate the Canucks for the 3rd consecutive year. Many people are already counting out the Blackhawks, but the great thing about the playoffs for Chicago is that the regular season standings only determine which team you play.
In each of the last two playoffs the Blackhawks were able to defeat the Canucks in the second round. Luongo did not play well in either elimination game and this will put that much more pressure on the star goaltender who has never played up to his ability in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This difference this year is that the Canucks have a backup goaltender who they feel can step in and win games at the first sign of the Blackhawks getting into Luongo’s head. Cory Schneider has gone (16-4-2) for the Canucks this season, which shows he is well equipped to take on the challenge if need be. Luongo went (38-15-7) this season playing only 60 games, which is much fewer than 68 he played last season. This added rest should also help Luongo stay focussed and bring his best game to the playoffs. The main knock on the Canucks against the Blackhawks is their goaltending, but this shouldn’t be too big a problem because Luongo should be better and if he isn’t Schneider is capable of stepping in and turning the series around. The Canucks just can’t lose too many games with Luongo before putting in Schneider because if the ‘Hawks get a lead in this series it will be hard to come back.
The Blackhawks are a different team this playoffs, but their core is still together (Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Keith, Seabrook, Campbell) and they have found a solid replacement number one goaltender in Corey Crawford, who easily won the #1 role over Marty Turco early in the season. Will the Blackhawks top two lines be able to do enough to overcome their lack of depth? I think this is a very good possibility. Dave Bolland may be coming back early in the series along with Troy Brouwer. Each of these players brings a lot of depth back to the forward lines, Bolland especially. Hossa has made his way to 3 Stanley Cup appearances and has seemed to do less for his team in each playoff year. This year he will be counted on more to generate offense and score goals for the Blackhawks. The main key to the ‘Hawks victory has to be the Toews-Kane-Sharp connection however. These 3 players have to score at over a point/game pace while being responsible defensively in order to win this series. Something they are very capable of doing.
Many people are taking the Canucks in 5 in this series, but I think the Blackhawks deserve more respect. The Blackhawks are likely the team that the Canucks least wanted to play out of any time in the entire Stanley Cup playoffs and somehow they still play them even after finishing first in the league. I remember when the Senators were a dominant team, but could not beat the Maple Leafs in the playoffs for the life of them. I’m expecting a similar story in this series, except that the Blackhawks are actually a good team who have the ability to win a series after beating the best team in the league, which the Maple Leafs did not.
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(3) Boston Bruins
(6) Montreal Canadiens
The Bruins had a very stellar regular season, finishing with the second highest goal differential in the league (+55) next to only Vancouver (+77). Tim Thomas set an all time record for save percentage and the team easily secured the Northeast Division title. The Bruins continued to play well all season and have shown consistency where many other teams had very up and down years.
The Canadiens played Carey Price hard this season and he responded with a great year leading the Habs to the 6th spot in the East. A team that I think overachieved once again, especially after losing Markov early in the season, will once again have a chance at another cinderella story, but this time Carey Price will need to lead the charge. For the Habs sake hopefully Carey is not too tired from the playoff push throughout the season to play as well as Halak did last season. This season Price played 72 games, while Halak played only 45 last season before the impressive playoff run. Another disheartening stat for the Habs is that Price has not won in his last 8 playoff starts.
The Bruins are a much bigger team than the Canadiens and this should provide them with a very important advantage in the first round playoff series. Lucic, Horton and Krejci are a very big line that the Canadiens have had trouble controlling throughout the season. If these 3 players can continue to produce at the pace they have against the Canadiens the Bruins should run rampant over the Canadiens. Not to mention the smarts and experience of Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi, while Zdeno Chara and recent acquisition Tomas Kaberle provide offensive help from the point, while Chara is also considered one of the hardest d-men to play against in the league.
The return of Spacek should help the Canadiens (he was instrumental in shutting down Ovechkin last season), but the Habs are outclassed in pretty much every area. This even includes goaltending as Tim Thomas was the best goalie in the league this season. For the Habs to have any chance Plecanek needs to be the best player on either team, while Cammalleri has to score like he did in last seasons playoffs (13 goals in 19 games).
Boston will have learned from their 3-0 series lead collapse last season not to give a team any life and I don’t expect the Habs to ever really have a chance in this series.
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(2) Philadelphia Flyers
(7) Buffalo Sabres
The Flyers came out of the gate flying this season and were in contention for the Presidents trophy for the majority of the season before sputtering down the stretch and finishing 11 points back of the Canucks. The Flyers went (9-9-7) down the stretch, winning only 9 of their last 25 games. Chris Pronger has been out of the lineup since March 15th, but he is expected to play in this series, whether it be in game number of or shortly thereafter. The Flyers will have to find their game quickly because unlike them the Sabres excelled at the end of the season.
Buffalo started the season off slowly, but finished strong winning their last 4 games and going (9-1-2) in their last 12 games. So it took the Sabres 12 games to win 9, while taking the Flyers 25. The Sabres clearly have the momentum, but the experienced lineup and home ice advantage still make the Flyers the favourites in the oddsmakers eyes. Ryan Miller is back healthy and should allow the Sabres every chance they need to win games against the Flyers.
Keys To The Series
- Flyers need to regain confidence. The Flyers have been struggling of late and they need to regain their early season swagger to win this series.
- Special Teams. The Flyers special teams have also struggled down the stretch. They finished 19th and 15th in power play and penalty kill percentages respectively for the season, while the Sabres power play came in 9th and the pk 13th. Add the fact that the Flyers special teams numbers have been dropping while the Sabres have been increasing and this could pose a serious problem for the Flyers. Especially since they are known for being a physical team (7th most PIM this season, compared to the Sabres 16th most)
- Goaltending. You can expect Ryan Miller to be on top of his game during the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky on the other hand is a wild card. If he stands on his head the Flyers should be able to battle to a series win, but if he struggles at all the Sabres will jump all over him.
- Momentum. Can the Sabres continue their stellar play from the final part of the regular season.
This is going to be one of my favourites series’ to follow this first round. I can see the series going either way and it really depends on which Flyers team shows up to play. It is very difficult for a team to just turn it on after having struggled to finish the regular season. For this reason I like the Sabres as the dogs.
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(1) Washington Capitals
(8) New York Rangers
The Capitals were able to secure top spot in the Eastern Conference after a season that many analysts and fans would call a disappointment and an underachievement for last seasons Presidents Trophy winners. It seemed to have taken the Capitals a little bit longer to adapt to their new more defensive style that is supposed to help this in the playoffs this season, but the team got the hang of it near the end of the season going 19-6-0 in the last 25 games. Ovechkin also seems geared up for the playoffs scoring 8 points in the final 6 games of the season after sitting out a few games to rest up. The Capitals new style should bode well for them throughout this years playoffs as they will hopefully be able to win close games, which they struggled with against the Canadiens last season.
The Rangers snuck into the playoffs in the 8th position after the Hurricanes lost to the Lightning this past Saturday. That being said the Rangers did win their final game, which put them in the position they find themselves in now. New York is a hard nosed hockey club that knows they will have to claw their way to a victory over the Caps. If you ask anyone of them they will likely tell you they are outmatched skill wise in this first round matchup, but they will believe that their heart can take them through this round. The Rangers block a ton of shots and the ones that do get through must beat Henrik Lundqvist who is easily capable of stealing a series.
Capitals Keys To Victory
- Play as a team. Ovechkin cannot try to do everything himself. If they stick to the gameplan and play as a unit as they did in the regular season they will win.
- A top goaltender must emerge. It seems like Neuvirth with get the nod to start the series, but Varlamov and Holtby will be waiting in the wings and will be called upon at any sign of a struggle.
- Don’t give the Rangers any hope. The Caps were up 3-1 against the Habs last season, but they tightened up and did not play their best hockey down the stretch. They cannot allows the Rangers to believe they have a chance in this series.
Rangers Keys To Victory
- Henrik Lundqvist. He will have to steal a couple games (if not four) in order for the Rangers to win the series.
- Marian Gaborik. Did not have a great regular season point wise, but he has the talent to score and the Rangers need him to step up.
The loss of Ryan Callahan really hurts the Rangers chances in this one. He is a much bigger part of this Rangers team than many people give him credit for.
The Capitals should dominate this series from start to finish. New York is lucky to have made the playoffs, but I cannot see them winning many games.
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The Vancouver Canucks destroyed the Wild last night, just as we expected, allowing us to win our puck line bet and finish the night up 1.25 units. Tonight I like two away favourites, but the lines are too good to pass up.
Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Islanders
The Penguins are only one point back of the Flyers for the lead in the Atlantic division with 2 games left. A jump to second in the East would give the Penguins home ice advantage for longer in the playoffs and also likely an easier first round opponent. Pittsburgh will not be taking these last two games lightly and should bring their A-game to both try for the top spot in the Atlantic and to bring momentum into the playoffs. The team is not likely to have Crosby to start the first round of the playoffs so they will need to continue to battle and this game against the Islanders is the next battle on the schedule. The Isles have dropped off from some solid play through the middle of the season and now sit in second last place in the East. They have lost their last two games and I don’t see them winning again this season. This is an easy bet and a very good line.
Chicago Blackhawks @ Detroit Red Wings
The Blackhawks were the oddsmakers favourites to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the season so many people are surprised to see the just trying to hold on to the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. The ‘Hawks are 2 points ahead of the Stars with 2 games remaining for both teams, but the Stars have the tiebreaker so for the Blackhawks to guarantee a playoff birth they need to get 3 points out of their final two games against Detroit. Toews scored a big goal to get an extra point in overtime in the Blackhawks last game and he will need to lead the team again tonight. The Red Wings just got Datsyuk back from injury a couple days ago and are now without Zetterberg who injured his left knee on Wednesday night. The Red Wings are not on top of their game and look like they may be stumbling into the playoffs this season. Expect the Blackhawks to come out strong and having Patrick Sharp back in the lineup allows for a much more balanced attack and a more lethal powerplay. The ‘Hawks should win this one and likely the next one to solidify their spot in the playoffs.
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Corey Perry came up huge and basically single handedly destroyed the Sharks last night forcing us to lose a unit; something that has not happened in a while. Tonight we look to back back on a fairly quiet Thursday night. Check back tomorrow for more NHL betting predictions and expect a game of the week pick to be sent out very soon.
Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks
The Wild have never regained their swagger after slipping out of playoff contention about a month ago. Add in an injury to their top scorer, Martin Havlat, and the team will have a very difficult time beating the Vancouver Canucks, who lead the league with 113 points. The Canucks have lost two straight and I expect them to come out firing at home to try to build some momentum heading towards the playoffs. Corey Perry also had four points last night and now sits just 3 points back of Daniel Sedin for the Art Ross trophy. You can expect the Sedin twins to be on their A game in order to get the team back on track and solidify that the Art Ross trophy stays in the family. I’m expecting at least 2 points from each Sedin this evening. The entire Canucks team needs to step up and a game against a struggling Wild team should be just the medicine.
As you may have noticed I generally use the best odds out of Bookmaker.com, Sportsbook.com and Bodog.com because I feel these are the best sportsbooks for NHL bettors online. That being said if you are interested in learning about more betting websites I recommend you do so because the more sportsbooks you have accounts with the more line shopping you can do. And as you will have noticed on our NHL betting tips page. Line shipping is just as, if not more important, than picking the winning team more often than not.
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