NHL betting trends, odds and predictions for Monday, November 6th, 2017 from various handicappers and websites
NHL Knowledge
Home side won eight of last ten Arizona-Washington games; Coyotes lost four of last five games in this building. Four of last five series games stayed under. Arizona is 2-13 to start season, 1-6 on road; over is 7-1-1 in their last nine games. Capitals won three of their last four games; they’re 2-3 at home this season. Over is 6-4 in their last ten games.
Minnesota is 6-4 in its last ten games with Boston; over is 4-2-1 in last seven series games. Wild are 3-2 in their last five visits to Benton. Minnesota is 4-5 in its last 19 games; this is their first road game in 16 days. Wild is 2-3 on road this season; under is 4-2 in their last six games. Boston lost three of last four games; they split last six home games. Under is 4-1 in their last five games.
Columbus won three of last four games with the Rangers; road team won five of last seven series games. Blue Jackets won 6-4/5-2 in their last two visits to Manhattan. Over is 7-3 in last ten series games. Columbus won four of last six games; they’re 3-2 in last five road games. Over is 7-3 in their last ten games. Rangers won their last three games, the last two both in OT; they won three of last four home games. Over is 7-2 in their last nine games.
Las Vegas lost three of its last four games, all on road; they’re 9-4 in their first NHL season. Over is 5-1 in its last six games. Toronto lost five of its last six games; over is 5-3-1 in their last nine games. Maple Leafs lost 6-3/4-2 in their last two home games.
Winnipeg won its last five games with Dallas; home side won five of last six series games. Over is 7-2 in last nine series games. Jets split their last four visits to Dallas; they’ve won three of last four games- their last three losses were all in OT. Winnipeg split its last four road games; three of its last four games went over. Dallas Stars won three of last four games; they’re 5-1 at home. Over is 5-2-1 in their last eight games.
Detroit won six of its last nine games with Vancouver; under is 6-2-2 in last nine series games. Red Wings won three of their last four visits to Vancouver. Detroit lost seven of its last nine games; five of their last six games stayed under. Red Wings lost four of their last five road tilts. Canucks won five of their last seven games, but are 3-5 at home. Four of their last six games stayed under the total.
Armadillosports.com
NHL Picks and Betting Tips
By Parker Michaels
Bangthebook.com
MORNING LINE REPORT
Welcome to a brand new week as we’re now past the one month mark of the NHL season. It seems like just yesterday we were watching Connor McDavid score a hat trick and Cam Talbot shut out the Flames on opening night. I’m sure the Oilers wish it really was just yesterday instead of the harsh reality that has befallen them this past month, including yesterday’s shutout on home ice to Petr Mrazek. It doesn’t get much lower than that.
We’re off to a great start to our season in the picks department here as we’ve added over 11% ROI to our bankroll but we’re coming off a rough weekend and facing our first bit of adversity on the year. I could sit here and dwell on what ifs from the last couple of days but I mentioned before if you let those thoughts drift into your head it will literally consume you in a very negative way. It’s important to analyze your losses sometimes and realize where and why you went wrong but always be looking forward to what’s ahead and leave what’s done in the past.
So with the mess of a weekend behind us, let’s focus on the schedule for this new week and find our edges. The NHL market has already begun to get a lot tighter and our edges will decrease as the season wears on but we’ll still be able to find spots here and there. My line ranges will also tighten up as more of this year’s data becomes available.
ARIZONA COYOTES @ WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Projected Goaltenders
Arizona – Antti Raanta/Scott Wedgewood (unknown)
Washington – Braden Holtby/Phillip Grubauer (unknown)
Injury Report
Arizona – Chychrun (out), Hjalmarsson (out)
Washington – Burakovsky (out), Niskanen (out), Connolly (questionable)
The Arizona Coyotes earned their first home win of the season on Saturday with a 2-1 shootout victory over Carolina as they continue a difficult 11 games in 19 days stretch. It was a much needed confidence boost as they now head out on an intimidating three game trip to Washington, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
Clayton Keller scored his rookie leading tenth goal and 16th point and has put himself at the top of the list for Calder Trophy hopefuls. It was also the first goal of the game which gave Arizona the game’s first goal in 11 of their 15 games now. The Coyotes are better than their record suggests but they still have trouble putting together a complete 60 minute effort. Their tendency to give up too many odd-man rushes is something that needs to be cleaned up.
With the Coyotes beginning a back-to-back tonight I haven’t heard how the goaltending duties will be split up but I would imagine we’ll see Raanta tonight as the team will want to get off to a good start on this road trip. Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson will not begin the road trip with the team.
The Washington Capitals may be starting to finally get things together as they won for the third time in four games with Saturday’s 3-2 win at Boston. The Capitals were relentless on the puck throughout the game and the game felt much more lopsided than the final score would indicate, mostly thanks to the stellar play of Tuukka Rask who saved multiple breakaways.
Washington also begins a back-to-back tonight as they’ll travel to Buffalo tomorrow. This will be the Caps fourth set of back-to-backs this year and they are 3-0 on the front end. Whether it’s Holtby or Grubauer tonight, we have enough value to fire on the Caps. This line opened about where it should but overnight money has taken it down to a playable number.
MINNESOTA WILD @ BOSTON BRUINS
Projected Goaltenders
Minnesota – Devan Dubnyk (likely)
Boston – Tuukka Rask (likely)
Injury Report
Minnesota – Parise (out), Coyle (out)
Boston – Krejci (out), Backes (out), Spooner (out), McQuaid (out)
The Minnesota Wild failed to capitalize on a six game homestand finishing with just a 3-3-0 record after being shut out by the Blackhawks on Saturday after allowing a powerplay goal to break a scoreless tie with less than five minutes to play. The Wild were calling Saturday’s game the most important of the season so it’s no surprise they are incredibly disappointed as they now head out on a road trip of four games in six days.
The Boston Bruins lost for the third time in four games with Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Washington in a game where Tuukka Rask made the final score a lot more respectable than their play would suggest. The Bruins inconsistent play continues as the team tries to overcome several key injuries. David Backes and Adam McQuaid are still out long-term while David Krejci missed his sixth straight game with a bad back and has been unable to even resume skating yet. Ryan Spooner did begin to skate again but is still a couple of weeks away so there’s no immediate help on the horizon as the Bruins begin a stretch with six of their next seven games on the road.
The lack of depth has hindered the Bruins ability to create offense and Cassidy was forced to try and create a spark by reuniting his one super line of Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak, who scored twice on Saturday in the losing effort. The problem with this is if the opponent has a good shutdown line to neutralize the big three, the other three lines look more like AHL combinations who haven’t been able to contribute to this point.
This line is at the high end of where it should be so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Minnesota money today. We won’t have a play here unless someone really likes Boston in which case we’ll jump on the Wild if they hit our target number of +125.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS @ NEW YORK RANGERS
Projected Goaltenders
Columbus – Sergei Bobrovsky (likely)
NY Rangers – Henrik Lundqvist (probable)
Injury Report
Columbus – Atkinson (doubtful), Calvert (out), Carlsson (questionable)
NY Rangers – no significant injuries
The Columbus Blue Jackets will open a back-to-back tonight as they conclude a three game road trip. The Jackets lost a 5-4 shootout in Tampa Bay on Saturday but are still off to their best start in franchise history with 19 points in their first 14 games and are tied with New Jersey atop the Metropolitan division.
The Jackets will face a bit of adversity this week as they try to deal with a few injuries. Cam Atkinson was moved to IR yesterday after missing the last three games but it’s retroactive to when the injury occurred so he’s actual eligible to return whenever he’s ready, although it’s highly doubtful he returns tonight. Matt Calvert has traveled back to Columbus after a clean hit from Dan Girardi last game knocked him to the ice pretty hard. Lukas Sedlak also remains out. Rookie defenseman Gabriel Carlsson was activated from IR and Tortorella said he could return tonight but was unsure at the time.
With three forwards out of the lineup, Tortorella was left to mix and match lines and there were no real set combinations. It’s expected this is how tonight’s game will be approached, as well.
The New York Rangers seem to have found their offense which carried them for long stretches last season. The Rangers have scored four or more goals in four of their last five games and have won three straight after Saturday’s 5-4 win at Florida.
Kevin Shattenkirk has found his game since being paired with Brady Skjei this past week and was in on all three of their game-winning goals. Vigneault has increased the pair’s ice-time which has helped offset the unexpected poor performances of Ryan McDonagh and Brendan Smith (who has been a healthy scratch the last two games).
Boo Nieves returned to practice yesterday after missing Saturday’s game with the flu and is expected to center the fourth line again tonight. Henrik Lundqvist is expected to get the start in net.
This line opened just a shade high but has moved towards Columbus overnight and now sits a shade low. There’s just enough value to fire on the Rangers now at -101 or lower.
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS @ TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Projected Goaltenders
Vegas – Maxime Lagace (confirmed)
Toronto – Frederik Andersen (likely)
Injury Report
Vegas – no significant injuries (other than goaltenders)
Toronto – no significant injuries
The Vegas Golden Knights continue to impress as they move along their six games in nine nights road trip out East. Vegas came out firing in Ottawa in an early start time on Saturday and knocked off the Senators 5-4 and held their own the previous game in a 2-1 loss at Boston. Now they’ll play the toughest part of their trip with a back-to-back which will conclude in Montreal tomorrow. Senators coach Guy Boucher said the Golden Knights are the hardest working team in the league and that’s exactly the way to describe this team. It’s been an impressive run and while many felt their hot start was a result of a spoon-fed early home schedule, the Knights are holding their own on this road trip with a fourth string goaltender.
The Toronto Maple Leafs finished off an exhausting 1-3-0 road trip with an ugly looking 6-4 loss at St. Louis on Saturday which was undoubtedly worse than the final score indicated. The Leafs looked more like an AHL team than a Stanley Cup contender with a defense who continually coughed up the puck and a number of forwards blowing assignments all night. William Nylander was so bad Babcock actually moved him off the top line in favor of Connor Brown which resulted in a Brown goal. Nylander was later dropped from the second line to the third as he continued to bury himself in the coach’s doghouse.
Frederik Andersen was pretty terrible once again and it’s not just the poor defense in front of him. He’s struggling in all areas. Of the 38 goaltenders to have played at least 200 minutes this season, Andersen ranks 34th in low-danger save percentage, 33rd in medium-danger and 28th in high-danger situations.
This is a tough spot for the Leafs as the first game home after a long West Coast trip and they are also in arguably their most difficult block of games on the schedule this year. This is their fourth game in six nights which sees them play ten games over a 17 day stretch.
The line opened just on the high side but has come down to where I think it should be with overnight money on Vegas. It’s a difficult spot for both sides and we won’t have a play here but it would be a lot easier to back Vegas here than lay the big juice on an inconsistent Leafs team right now.
WINNIPEG JETS @ DALLAS STARS
Projected Goaltenders
Winnipeg – Connor Hellebuyck/Steve Mason (unknown)
Dallas – Ben Bishop (confirmed)
Injury Report
Winnipeg – Perreault (out), Lowry (probable)
Dallas – Ritchie (out), Faksa (doubtful), Pitlick (doubtful), Hanzal (questionable)
The Winnipeg Jets were cooled off just a little bit with Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss to Montreal which saw them blow a two goal third period lead. Connor Hellebuyck looked human for one of the few times this season allowing a couple of soft goals but remained unbeaten in regulation now at 7-0-2. The Jets will log a lot of miles this week as they begin a tough three road trip that sees them go to Vegas and Arizona after tonight’s rematch from last Thursday which saw the Jets come out on top by a score of 5-2.
Maurice said Adam Lowry is probable to return tonight and would return to his role in the bottom six. I haven’t seen confirmation of a goaltender tonight but I would expect Hellebuyck once again. The next two games are a back-to-back and we’ll probably finally see Mason again for one of those.
The Dallas Stars have won five in a row on home ice after a dominating 5-1 victory over Buffalo on Saturday. The Stars have been playing excellent defense over the past couple of weeks and secondary scoring has been a big help lately. Dallas is expected to be a little shorthanded tonight though as Radek Faksa and Tyler Pitlick were both hurt in Saturday’s game and are doubtful for tonight. Martin Hanzal has missed the last three games but could return tonight. He was able to practice yesterday and will be tested again this morning. Hitchcock said defenseman Jamie Oleksiak would be moved up to play a forward position tonight if both Faksa and Pitlick can’t go tonight.
The lineup tonight for the Stars doesn’t sound ideal but this number is currently too short so we’ll play Dallas tonight who look to extract some revenge from last week’s loss in Winnipeg.
DETROIT RED WINGS @ VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Projected Goaltenders
Detroit – Jimmy Howard (confirmed)
Vancouver – Jacob Markstrom (probable)
Injury Report
Detroit – DeKeyser (out), Nyquist (questionable)
Vancouver – Eriksson (out), Edler (out), Stecher (out)
The Detroit Red Wings played a complete 60 minute game and dominated the Edmonton Oilers yesterday in a 4-0 shutout for Petr Mrazek.
The Wings lost Gustav Nyquist in the first period after a knee-on-knee hit by Eric Gryba. Blashill said he doesn’t believe it’s serious and there was no ligament damage but his status is in question for tonight. If he can’t go tonight we may see David Booth enter the lineup.
The Vancouver Canucks held on for an impressive 4-2 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Rookie Brock Boeser scored his first ever NHL hat trick as his line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi were flying all over the ice in one of the most impressive performances on the season.
Jacob Markstrom is likely to start in net once again as Anders Nilsson’s wife is expecting any time and he may temporarily have to leave the team.
This line opened about where it should have but an overnight move on Vancouver has sent it up to -150. That’s too high even with the Wings on the back-to-back here. The Canucks are playing really well right now but we’ll play the edge with Detroit tonight. The Wings are good down to +130.