The Anaheim Ducks travel to Dallas this evening to take on the Stars in their third and final game of a short road trip. The Ducks have started to turn their season around of late with a record of (3-5-1) now after three losses to begin the season. The Stars on the other hand got off to a great start to the season with four straight wins and are now (5-2-0) for 10 points after 7 games.
Anaheim has been horrible on the road this season being outscored 13-2 in their first three road games of the season. The Ducks have been more respectable in their last two road games winning by a goal in Philly and losing by only 1 goal last game in Detroit. Ryan Getzlaf has been on a tear of late with 11 points in just 6 games following the three brutal road losses to start the season. Perry has also picked it up after no points in the first 3 games with 8 in the last 6. Anaheim needs Getzlaf and Perry, as well as their other two big guns Ryan and Selanne (7 points each in last 6) to continue firing on all cylinders to give the Ducks a chance to win. These four players, along with Hiller, are the Ducks entire team and if they don’t produce the Ducks have no chance to win.
The Stars have looked very good starting the season with Kari Lehtonen looking like their solution in goal so far this season. The Stars have allowed the third fewest goals through 7 games this season, which is amazing when compared to last season when they gave up the third most goals in the West over the course of the year. The team has a +7 goal differential which is tied for the best in the NHL and top guns Richards, Neal, Ribeiro and Eriksson have all started the season well. These players are likely chomping at the bit to play the Ducks who have given up the most goals thus far in the season (33 GA).
Anaheim Ducks vs Dallas Stars Betting Odds
Anaheim Ducks +130 (Bookmaker.com)
Dallas Stars -150 (Bookmaker.com)
The Stars are the favourites in this game thanks to their solid start to the season and Anaheim’s horrible road record.
My Pick: Dallas Stars -150
The Ducks have shown time and time again how brutal they are on the road. They have been outscored 23-10 in six home games and have only managed to pull out a win in Philadelphia. This is the third game of their road trip and I expect them to come out flat and the Dallas Stars forwards to be able to take advantage of a weak Ducks backend. The NHL Betting Tips prediction record so far this year is (3-1) for +2.39 units. Check back every day for new free NHL picks!
Written by: Niko de Jonge
The Minnesota Wild are home to the Los Angeles Kings tonight and are looking to return to their winning ways after a tough loss on Friday to Vancouver. The Wild have 7 points through 7 games this season, while the Kings have a (5-2-0) record for 10 points having also played 7 games.
Minnesota has looked really good at times, (ie 6-2 win over the ‘Nucks), but also really bad (ie 5-1 loss a few days later the same Canucks team). Minnesota has always been a much stronger team playing at home and this is true once again this season. The Wild fans are some of the best in the business and always come to the games ready to cheer. It’s not coincidence that the Wild have sold out every single game since they came into the league. The Wild’s home record this season is (2-2-0), but one of these home games took place in Helsinki to kick off the season, so their actual record is (2-1-0). The Wild will need another strong performance from Nicklas Backstrom and to feed off the energy of the fans to take this game against a very strong Los Angeles team.
The Kings are off to a great start this season, but their only 2 losses have come on the road. This is the Kings 3rd game of a long 5 game road trip and weariness may begin to set in. Jonathan Quick will likely get the start tonight and he has looked very sharp so far this season with a (4-1-0) record, a .929 save percentage and 1.97 GAA. Quick has a (5-2) lifetime record against the Wild and he will need to stand on his head once again to give the Kings a chance to win in Minnesota.
Los Angeles Kings -105 (Bodog.com)
Minnesota Wild -110 (Bookmaker.com)
The Kings are slight underdogs on Bodog.com, while Bookmaker.com and Sportsbook.com, our other two recommended NHL bookies, have the game as a pick’em with each team coming in at -110.
My Pick: Minnesota Wild -110
The Wild have looked good at home this season and have had the weekend to think about their embarrassing 5-1 loss at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. Expect the Wild to come out firing out of the gates and score the first goal in this one. The Kings have been a great third period team so far this season, but their legs may be getting heavy as weariness from the road trip sets in. I see some value in the Minnesota Wild tonight and this will be my only play for this evening. Check back tomorrow for some more free NHL betting predictions!
Written by: Niko de Jonge
The Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks face off tonight at the Rexall Place in Edmonton. These teams were polar opposites last year with the Sharks finishing atop the Western Conference and the Oilers finishing last in the West and the league. This year the Oil got off to a solid start winning their first two games, but have since returned to their losing ways with a (2-3-0) record through 5 games this season. The Sharks on the other hand started the season in Sweden, splitting games with the Blue Jackets. The Sharks are beginning to turn their season around having defeated the Avs on the road on Thursday and they’ll look to extend their winning streak in Edmonton.
The Oilers are no doubt a better team than last year and should continue to improve throughout the season with the help of young guns Hall, Eberle and Paajarvi, but the Oilers are still a basement team in my books. Their young players will first need to learn how to lose in the NHL before they can win. You can expect the Oilers to be contenders a few years down the road similar to how the Penguins (Crosby, Malkin, Fleury) and Blackhawks (Toews, Kane) needed a few years at the bottom of the standings before eventually winning the Stanley Cup.
The Sharks are still an elite regular season team in this league. I placed a bet earlier this year on the Sharks to win the division at +110 odds at Bookmaker.com and I consider this wager a solid investment because the Sharks will no doubt top their division come April. The Sharks got off to a relatively slow start compared to their standards, but they have played extremely well of late and I expect them to continue this trend heading into Edmonton. The powerplay has been clicking lately with Pavelski scoring 2 PPG’s on Thursday night with two helpers from Heatley. It’s important that Heatley begins to produce even strength as well for the Sharks playing on the third line with Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe. This new strategy of splitting up the big guns should pay dividends for the Sharks throughout the season because their scoring threats will be spread throughout the lineup making them more difficult to defend.
San Jose Sharks -135 (Sportsbook.com)
Edmonton Oilers +130 (Bookmaker.com)
The Sharks are slight favourites in this game, but the betting odds are quite different among our recommended online sportsbooks. The odds you see above are the most favourable NHL betting odds for each team.
My Pick: San Jose Sharks -135
The San Jose Sharks are a much better all around team than the Oilers and should be able to take advantage of the inexperienced young guns this early in the season. Look for the Sharks to outshoot the Oilers by 10 or more and really push Khabibulin to the limits. The only way I see the Sharks losing this game is if Khabibulin comes out with his A-game (very possible), but more often than not the talent of the Sharks should be able to overcome the Oilers who will once again be a bottom feeder in the NHL this season.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
The Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres face off at the HSBC Center tonight in a game that, even though we are only a few games into the season, is very important for both teams. The Sens and Sabres each started the season 1-4-1 (the Sabres have since won and are now 2-4-1). A horrible start by anyones standards, but especially for two teams who were predicted to fairly easily make the playoffs this season.
It’s getting to be do or die time for the Senators this year. If they lose tonight that will make it one win in their opening seven games. That’s a big hole that they will be trying to dig out of for the remainder of the season. Look at the Leafs and Wild last year. Each team had a bad start and neither was ever able to overcome it and put themselves in a position to make the playoffs. Brian Elliott is likely starting in net tonight according to the Toronto Sun. Elliot is 8-0-0 lifetime against the Sabres with a 1.87 GAA and a .937 save percentage in those games. The Senators will need Elliott to have another big game tonight in order to get back on track. Another player the Senators need to step up is Alex Kovalev. Kovalev’s skating has been criticized of late so look for the old Russian to have his legs under him tonight in order to prove his doubters wrong.
The Sabres won on the road against a weak Thrashers team on Wednesday and will look to maintain this momentum when they return home tonight. The Sabres have yet to win at home this season (0-3-1) and will look to Miller to outplay Elliot tonight enroute to a win. A couple of bright spots for the Sabres so far have been the play of Derek Roy and rookie Tyler Ennis. Roy has 7 points in 7 games and will need to continue this point per game production if the Sabres are going to have a shot at the playoffs this season. Tyler Ennis has 5 points in 7 games and will try to maintain strong production against the Senators as he continues his bid to bring the Calder trophy back to the Buffalo this season.
Ottawa Senators +120 (Bookmaker.com)
Buffalo Sabres -140 (Bookmaker.com)
The Senators are the road dogs with a lot to lose in this game. Their backs are against the wall and I expect their team to come through in the clutch. Elliott will need to maintain his dominant record against Buffalo and players such as Jason Spezza and Alex Kovalev will have to begin to play playoff type hockey in order for the Sens to get out of the hole they have climbed into. Look for all these things to happen tonight and the Senators to get back to winning form.
My Pick: Ottawa Senators +120
This is the only game I see value in tonight, but if I was to choose some other winners I would go with the Blue Jackets -145, Lightning +110, Blackhawks -105 and Wild +170.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a hot start with 2 wins over their biggest rivals, the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. The game with the Habs in Montreal was tight, but the Leafs dismantled the Senators in their most recent game and will look to continue their hot start tonight against the Penguins. Giguere has been a main reason for the Leafs early success and he will once again be between the pipes this evening as the Leafs try to defend two of the most prolific scorers in recent years, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins, on the other hand, have not gotten off to the best start with one win in their first three games. Not only that, but Crosby and Malkin have each been held to just one point in these games, which is not enough if the Penguins are going to have success this season. The Pens are not the deepest team in the league, so they need their star players to step up and contribute in order to win.
Toronto Maple Leafs +145 (Bookmaker.com)
Pittsburgh Penguins -160 (Sportsbook.com)
The Maple Leafs are the road underdogs in this game. They did perform better at home than on the road in their two games this season, but that is far too small a sample size to make any conclusions. The Penguins have lost both of their home games this season and I expect them to either continue to play below average hockey or for Crosby and Malkin to light it up and the Penguins to win by a landslide.
My Prediction: Toronto Maple Leafs +145 @ Bookmaker.com
The Maple Leafs have looked very strong lately and are playing a Penguins team which I feel is extremely overrated. The +145 odds I get at Bookmaker.com are more than enough to justify wagering on the underdog in this case. I will likely be fading the Penguins a lot during the start of the season because they are a team that the public overvalues, which in turn forces the bookmakers to also overvalue them. The Maple Leafs are another team that are often overvalued, just due to their vast fan following, but the way they have been playing should continue, which will give the Penguins all that they can handle.
I personally think that each of these teams are bubble teams for the playoffs this year, so this is a big game for each team, even though it is still very early in the season. Visit Bookmaker.com now to place your Toronto Maple Leafs wager!
Written by: Niko de Jonge
The San Jose Sharks have won the Pacific division for the last 3 years and I don’t expect this year to be any different. This is why when I saw the Bookmaker.com sports betting odds for the Sharks to repeat as Pacific division champs set at +110 I had to jump on the opportunity and place a wager. This means that Bookmaker.com thinks there is a less than 50% chance that the San Jose Sharks get the most points in the Pacific division over the course of this 2010-11 season. I personally have the Sharks chances set around 80%, so with this discrepancy it was an easy bet for me to make.
The Sharks have been able to keep their team together since the past season, minus Evgeni Nabokov. This means that teams core, which includes Thornton, Marleau, Heatley, Pavelski, Setoguchi and Boyle, is still intact. Add two solid goaltenders in Nittymaki and Stanley Cup champion Niemi and you have a team that should be strong in all aspects. San Jose has proven time and time again that they can put up big points in the regular season and I don’t expect this year to be any different.
The Sharks main competition for this division title will be the Los Angeles Kings and possibly the Phoenix Coyotes. I personally think that the Kings are the only team with a chance at taking the division crown from the Sharks and I don’t think they are ready just yet. The Kings are still a young team with a core of Kopitar, Doughty and Dustin Brown. Their goaltending situation is up in the air with Quick being in consistent and Bernier possibly taking over the job as a rookie. The Kings should at least make it a race this year, but they just won’t have the consistency to compete with a team that got 12 more points than them last year in the Sharks.
The Coyotes weren’t a flash in the pan last year, but they are at best an above average team. Phoenix rises and falls with the play of Ilya Bryzgalov and I don’t think he can play any better than he did last year when the Coyotoes rolled to 107 points. Expect Phoenix to achieve around 95 points this season; not enough to win the division.
As you can probably tell this San Jose Sharks division winners bet is a sure thing in my head. You can decide if it’s a sure thing for you.
The Blackhawks have done it! The ‘Hawks came into the season with +600 ice hockey odds to win the Stanley Cup. So if you put $100 down on the Blackhawks in the preseason you would be cashing out a $600 profit right now.
I personally am happy the Blackhawks won over the Philadelphia Flyers. First of all I just feel like the ‘Hawks deserve it so much more than the Flyers and have a better all around team. I’m also glad Hossa won the Stanley Cup. I for one gave Hossa credit for always wanting to be on a team that had a legitimate Cup shot and making the finals three years running. I wouldn’t call that a curse and now nobody else can either. Hossa wanted the cup as badly as anyone and he proved it taking pay cuts and moving to teams he thought had what it takes. I guess that proves that Europeans want the Stanley Cup just as badly as Canadians.
This NHL season is over and it was a successful one once again. Next up is seeing whether Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin is drafted first over all and seeing where all the free agents end up.
Then it’s back to NHL betting once the regular season starts next October. I already can’t wait. I think it’s going to be the Senators year :P!
The NHL playoffs are finally here so I’m going to get back into making some predictions. The NHL playoffs are where my predictions have shined in the past. Last year I went 8 for 8 in the first round on route to winning the NHL playoffs bracket I had with my friends. I find that in the playoffs you can get more value for your bets because you know some series are almost certainly going to go one way, while others could be anyones game. In this predictions post I’m not going to state my reasoning, but I will classify the series as “sure thing” or “either way”. I will be including the Bodog.com odds so you can see why I choose some underdogs.
Eastern Conference First Round Predictions
(1) Washington Capitals -650
(8) Montreal Canadiens +425
I’m betting on the Washington Capitals at -650.
Sure Thing
No matter what the odds you can’t possibly take the Habs in this first round series. The Caps are just too good.
(2) New Jersey Devils -235
(7) Philadelphia Flyers +195
I’m betting the Philadelphia Flyers at +195.
Either Way
I took the Devils in my bracket pool, but I think this series could really go either way. The Flyers went 5-1 against the Devils in the regular season and as long as Boucher plays ok, they have a shot at winning. So +195 is decent odds to take the Flyers in this one.
(3) Buffalo Sabres -170
(6) Boston Bruins +150
I’m betting the Boston Bruins at +150.
Either Way
Here is another series that could go either way. The Bruins may have trouble scoring, but they also keep their own goals against low. In a low scoring series like this should be it comes down to mistakes and I think the Bruins have just as good a shot at winning this series as the Sabres. So +150 is better odds than -170.
(4) Pittsburgh Penguins -280
(5) Ottawa Senators +240
I’m betting the Pittsburgh Penguins at -280.
Sure Thing
It pains me to say this as an Ottawa Senators fan, but Crosby and Malkin are just too strong. I’m going to be cheering Ottawa to the bitter end, but if I were to bet on the series I think the smart bet would be -280 on the Pens. That being said, this is likely the least “sure thing” of all the “sure thing” series I will predict on here.
Western Conference First Round Predictions
(1) San Jose Sharks -450
(8) Colorado Avalanche +325
I’m betting on the San Jose Sharks at -450.
Sure Thing
The Sharks have been playing some of their best hockey of the season, well the Avs have been playing some of their worst. Enough said.
(2) Chicago Blackhawks -450
(7) Nashville Predators +325
I’m betting the Chicago Blackhawks at -450.
Sure Thing
The Blackhawks are the favourites to make the cup finals out of the West. The Predators are actually a tough team, they just got unlucky that the Hawks lost their final game of the season, otherwise they’d have a legitimate shot at beating the Sharks.
(3) Vancouver Canucks -245
(6) Los Angeles Kings +205
I’m betting the Vancouver Canucks at -245.
Sure Thing
The Kings haven’t had any goaltending down the stretch. The Canucks have one of the best ‘tenders in the league and two of the best forwards. I’m surprised you can get -245 on the Canucks in this series. It’s a good bet for sure.
(4) Phoenix Coyotes +165
(5) Detroit Red Wings -190
I’m betting the Detroit Red Wings at -190.
Sure Thing
The Red Wings are finally playing like Stanley Cup contenders. It’s just unfortunate for the Coyotes that the Red Wings were able to climb to fifth seed in the West. I rank the Wings as the team to beat in the West, but they will have the toughest road. However, I don’t think their run will stop in the first round.
The NHL playoffs are getting closer and many teams are on the bubble for those final few spots. Will these teams step up the challenge, or will the pressure get the best of them? Here are my predictions for tonight’s games:
Minnesota Wild +135
Columbus Blue Jackets -155
Minnesota lost last night and for them to realistically have a chance at making the playoffs they probably have to win 10 of their remaining 12 games. That means just 3 losses and they’re likely out. Lucky for them I don’t think tonight will be one of them. The Wild still have hope. Something that the Blue Jackets do not have. I think the Wild will realize that if they lose this game their slim playoff hopes will be completely gone. They will step up, have a big game and get the W.
I bet Minnesota Wild at +135
San Jose Sharks +105
Calgary Flames -115
It’s not often you see the Sharks as an underdog in the game, but I guess they haven’t been playing well and the Flames are fighting for their playoff lives. However, I see a bounceback game for the Sharks as I don’t feel the Flames have what it takes to make the playoffs this year.
I bet the Sharks at +105
Detroit Red Wings -245
Edmonton Oilers +205
The best team in the league that is currently in tough to make the playoffs against the simply put: worst team in the league by far. The Red Wings need to win this game. They can’t go around losing to the worst team in the league and still expect to make the playoffs. I want to see a Red Wings vs Sharks first round match up and I think this is an easy W for the Wings.
I bet the Red Wings at -245
Well those are my sports betting predictions for today. It’s a quiet night in the NHL, but that doesn’t mean the games aren’t big!
Boston Bruins -110
New York Rangers -110
The Bruins and Rangers have almost identical records over the past ten games, which has been an improvement for the Rangers and the opposite for the Bruins. The Rangers have had trouble scoring throughout the season and currently have the fourth least goals for in the entire NHL. The only bright spot offensively has been the play of Marian Gaborik, who despite playing for an offensively challenged team has racked up the points and is 3rd in points and 1st in goals in the entire NHL. The Rangers are at home for this game, but they have not been solid at the Garden this year with an 8-13 record. The Bruins on the other hand are on a two game winning streak including a solid come from behind win in the New Years day Winter Classic. I think this streak will continue in New York against the struggling Rangers.
I bet the Boston Bruins at -110.
