Special K
20* UCLA
Scott Rickenbach
6* (Regular Play) Washington Capitals Money Line (+) @ Detroit
The Red Wings lost to the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. What does that have to do with this game? Although it’s just one “piece of the puzzle” you can bet that the Capitals know that could have been them hoisting the Stanley Cup. This is now their chance to “measure up” and, as a result, they are geared up for this game. The Capitals were eliminated from the playoffs last season by the Penguins and then had to sit back and watch as Pittsburgh won it all right after the Caps season had just ended. While Detroit is coming off of a tight win over the Blackhawks on Thursday, the Capitals are coming off back to back losses at Philadelphia and versus the New York Rangers. The Caps blew leads in both games and lost to the Flyers in overtime and were defeated by the Rangers by a one-goal margin. These tight defeats have the Capitals ready to finally play “both ways” and give more effort on the defensive end. That has been a problem for the Capitals early this season but, taking some of the pressure off tonight is the fact that the Red Wings offense has taken some major hits.
Note that Detroit has lost a lot of last season’s offensive production. Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky signed with the Blackhawks while Jiri Hudler is now playing in Russia and Mikael Samuelsson is now playing for the Canucks. Add a 5th name to this list now as Johan Franzen is out for about four months with a torn ACL! These guys account for over 40% of the goals that Detroit scored last season and the Red Wings simply won’t be able to keep up with a red-hot Capitals offense on Saturday night. Detroit started their season 0-2 and finally got into the win column while Washington started the season 2-0 but has gone winless in their last two games. The healthier, hungrier, focused Capitals bounce back from their tight losses with a “statement win” against a Western Conference foe they’ve been hungry to play against. The Caps beat the Red Wings in their last match-up, in January, and Alexander Ovechkin now has four goals in three career games against Detroit. He and the Capitals offense stay hot here. Play Washington on the money line as a 6* Regular Play selection
Craig Trapp
TCU vs. Air Force
Pick: TCU -10.5
This was a trap game two years ago for TCU but most of this team that lost to AF will not let it happen again. Plus TCU has the best run defense in all the country. TCU takes great pride in the defense and today they keep AF under 10 pts and will win going away. TCU offense is just good enough to move the ball on the ground and chew up the clock. Huge mismatch with the best defense that is so athletic verse an average team that wins with the option. Mismatch easy winner. SCORE TCU 27 - AF 10
Seabass
30 TCU
30 AZ
30 Utah Under
50 LSU
300 FSU
Wunderdog
Minnesota Wild vs. San Jose Sharks
Pick: San Jose Sharks -1.5
This game I expect to be a much tighter checking, and lower scoring game than expected, so getting the Wild on the plus side of the puckline makes a lot of sense. Over the last couple of years and their last seven meetings, these two clubs have battled it out in some very competitive games. The last seven show that just one was decided by more than a single goal, and that one was decided by two. The Wild has won two of those, but have been in just about every single game played against the Sharks, and won the last time here. I'm taking the Wild on the puckline in this one.
The Consensus Group Guaranteed Selections
CONSENSUS GROUP PAC 10 CONFERENCE GAME OF THE YEAR
Arizona -3