Carmine Bianco
Lightning at Penguins
Play: Penguins -1.5
Other than a 1-0 loss to the Kings the Pens have won 9 of their past 10 at home and 6 of those 9 wins were by 2 or more, 5 by 3 or more. Yes they are scoring and have been one of the best offensive clubs the past 6 weeks. The Lightning are struggling, mainly due to injuries and have dropped 3 straight, each by 2+.
Chip Chirimbes
Magic at Lakers
Play: Magic +2
Los Angeles is off their best performance of the season defeating the Miami Heat 127-100 and have won 2-of-3 while the Magic were just defeated by Houston 100-93. Orlando has dropped four of their last five after going 3-1 at home and have a 109-90 win over the Lakers posted at home. Magic coach Frank Vogel has his club hustling for loose ball and are scrappy enough to win here.
SPORTS WAGERS
CHICAGO -1½ +193 over Nashville
The Predators have been taking some heat recently by the local media in regards to their inconsistent play and inability to string together victories. They responded to that with a solid 6-1 victory on Thursday in Tampa Bay but the Preds had a chance to follow that up with a win against Florida on Friday but instead put forth one of the worst efforts we have seen this year. Losing is one thing but when the effort is not there, it tells a different story. The 2-1 loss to Florida was a flattering score to the Preds. Had it not been for goaltender Juuse Saros, the score would have been 5-1 or worse. Since November 15, the Preds have consecutive wins just one time. They have scored two goals or less in 11 of their last 16 games while allowing three or more 11 times during that span. This is a team that may have quit or is on the verge of quitting. The loss of their leader, Shea Weber might be bigger than originally thought. The Preds used to have an identity but they’re losing that too. Now the Preds will take their lame act to Chicago to face a hungry Blackhawks team that is healthy and rounding into form.
The Blackhawks and Preds have developed quite a rivalry over the years, which works to our advantage for a number of reasons. First, teams’ almost always get jacked up for rivalry games and in this case, Chicago is very likely going to bring intensity and focus while the Preds don’t seem to care about much these days. We love that Marion Hossa is back and is on a line with Jonathan Toews and Vinnie Hinostroza, a talented rookie that is on the verge of erupting. The Blackhawks are 15-4-4 at home and they have always had great success against this visitor at the Madhouse. This visitor is 3-8 against top-10 teams and has not been this easy to beat in over a decade. The Blackhawks figure to take advantage.
Boston +120 over CAROLINA
OT included. Readers of this space know exactly where we stand in regards to the Hurricanes. This is a team that remains very live when taking back a price against anyone. Such was the case when they went into St. Louis last week and defeated the Blues, 4-2. The next night, Carolina went into Chicago and outshot the Blackhawks 40-24 but lost 2-1. As a -180 favorite at home against New Jersey on January 3, the Canes lost 3-1 and therein lies the problem. The ‘Canes are an upper echelon team in terms of effort, ability and structure but they simply don’t win enough games or haven’t learned how to win consistently enough to trust spotting a price. Cam Ward is having a very decent year but he’s in the Pekka Rinne, Steve Mason category in that some inevitably poor performances and soft goals are forthcoming and they can come at any time.
The Bruins responded to being caught in the standings by Toronto with a convincing 4-0 win in Florida last night. Over its last four games, Boston has allowed 25, 25, 26 and 27 shots on net respectively. After a brief but modest funk, the B’s are once again dominating the opposition in puck possession numbers and shots directed at the night and on goal. It is also no fluke that last night’s convincing win coincided with the return of David Backes, who is one of the most underappreciated players to ever play this game. Backes does everything from being a great penalty killer and point producer to be being a major presence on the ice, on the bench and in the locker room. Over their last 10 games, the Bruins have outshot opponents by counts of 30-18, 50-29, 33-23, 40-22, 38-30, 36-25 and 37-25 but are just 5-5 over that span. Not many teams are outplaying the Bruins these days and while Carolina is always difficult to beat in the puck-possession battles that take place on the ice, Boston has a significant edge in net that pushes the advantage to its side. At the very worst, Boston is a 50/50 shot to win here and that’s more than enough for us to step in.
SPORTS WAGERS
Ohio State +5½ over MINNESOTA
The Golden Gophers are hot; boy, are they hot with a 14-2 record but we are big time sellers on this outfit because we’re not buying any of it. Two of the Gophers last three victories occurred in OT (luck). They have a six-point win over the Johnnies, a team that gets destroyed by every good team they play. The Gophers were also very fortunate to get by NJIT in a game they were trailing with seven minutes remaining. A bunch of big wins over cupcakes does nothing to convince us that this host is for real. The Gophers out-of-conference schedule ranks 175th in the country and while they are 2-1 in the conference, again, two games went into OT and the other was a four-point win over Northwestern. In other words, the Gophers are a shot or two away from being 0-3 in the conference.
Enter the Ohio State Buckeyes and its 10-5 overall record and 0-2 conference record. This now becomes a huge game for the Buckeyes because another loss in the conference puts them in a big hole but they are the better team here. Ohio State missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 last year. The Buckeyes were a very young and inexperienced team last year and it showed. The team had to settle for a trip to the NIT, where they needed overtime to defeat Akron in the first round before losing at home Florida in the second round. Those younger players are growing up now while sophomore point guard JaQuan Lyle is starting to thrive. The Buckeyes have a two-point loss on the road at #6 Virginia. Their two conference losses were by one-point and by five points with the one-point loss occurring against #20 Purdue. In Las Vegas, the Buckeyes were down by three at the half to #2 UCLA before eventually losing that one too by 13. With all five starters back and the return of sixth man Kam Williams, Ohio State has a great foundation to build around and they have just missed on a few occasions against some ranked teams. They can just as easily be 2-0 in the conference and now we’re taking back some seriously inflated points because of results and not performances.
OC Dooley
Wake Forest / Virginia Over 133.5
For those who follow Virginia and their head coach Tony Bennett they have always been one of the nation's top defenses, but the Cavs in the most recent outing gave up the MOST POINTS (88) in a lengthy 4 year stretch. After the game Bennett was quoted as saying we need to do MORE than just defense and I am following his lead with this particular wager. Wake Forest has FOUR players averaging Double-Digits per contest but yet they have played "over" the total just TWICE in the past 9 outings. However since they are facing Virginia this evening the posted total is much lower. Wake Forest is 11-3 OVER the last fourteen times they have participated in a game where the total has been in the 130's
Wunderdog
Heat @ Clippers
Pick: Heat +9
Miami covered the first meeting this season, losing 102-98 as a 7.5-point underdog at home, and the Clippers are just 5-16 ATS their last 21 games against Eastern Conference teams. The Heat comes off a loss in Los Angeles as the Lakers shot 50.0 percent and Miami was only eight of 32 from beyond the arc. Willie Reed scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Heat, and James Johnson came off the bench to score 20 points. The Clippers have won three straight over Phoenix, Memphis, and Sacramento after losing six in a row. The road team has covered the spread five of the last seven meetings, and the Clippers can't be trusted to cover this high a number.