NHL betting trends, odds and predictions for Wednesday, November 8th, 2017 from various handicappers and websites
NHL Knowledge
Minnesota won its last seven games with Toronto; last 10 series games stayed under the total. Wild won their last three games in this building. Minnesota lost three of last four games; they’re 2-4 on the road. Over is 5-4-1 in their last ten games. Maple Leafs lost five of last seven games; they’re 3-2 in last five home tilts. Toronto’s last three games went over the total.
Rangers won their last five games with Boston; over is 5-2 in last seven series games. Bruins were outscored 15-7 in losing their last four visits to Manhattan. Boston is 0-5 this season is game following a win; they’re 1-3 on the road. Four of their last six games stayed under total. Rangers won their last four games, scoring 18 goals; over is 8-2 in their last 10. New York won four of its last five home games.
Road team won six of last seven Lightning-Shark games; over is 7-3 in last ten series games. Tampa Bay split its last four games in the Shark Tank. Lightning won six of last eight games overall, four of last five on the road- over is 3-1 in their last four road games. San Jose won its last four games, allowing six goals; their last six games stayed under the total. Sharks won their last four home games.
Armadillosports.com
NHL Picks and Betting Tips
By Parker Michaels
Bangthebook.com
MORNING LINE REPORT
Today’s intro isn’t going to be about hockey, so if you would prefer to just get to today’s games feel free to skip below. It won’t hurt my feelings.
It’s with a heavy heart I write this piece this morning. Some of you know this about me but most of you probably don’t. I’m a die-hard Toronto Blue Jays fan. They are the only sports team in any league that I have been a fan for my whole life. The 1992 and 1993 World Series moments were the highlight of my childhood as a sports fan.
The news late yesterday afternoon of Roy Halladay dying in a plane crash instantly hit me hard. I had a shower where the water helped mask my tears and then I went for a long walk. As someone who has dealt with mental health issues over the past couple of years it was a difficult night for me as I began questioning a lot of things again.
Some things are bigger than hockey. Roy Halladay was bigger than life.
Roy Halladay was an incredible baseball player but he was an exceptional human being. His kindness and outlook on life is something every person could learn from. This is a screwed up world we live in and to lose someone who you looked up to as a hero-type figure is difficult to process.
I had wanted to write more about this today but I can’t even get through anymore without the tears blanketing my eyes. I strongly suggest reading the piece written by Ken Rosenthal last night on Halladay as it’s fantastic. The Athletic is normally a subscription site but they made this piece free to everyone and I thank them for that kind gesture. I retweeted the link on my Twitter this morning. It had some stories from his former teammates in Philadelphia but he’s also going to have one later with stories from Toronto’s side.
In terms of hockey, it had felt like it was coming for a few days now. That first really bad night of the year where if it could go wrong – it would. And it happened last night as we came out on the wrong side of some third period coin flips and ended with a 1-4 record. When your only victory of the night is with the Buffalo Sabres then you know it was probably a rough one. Let’s get back at it today.
MINNESOTA WILD @ TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Projected Goaltenders
Minnesota – Alex Stalock (confirmed)
Toronto – Frederik Andersen (likely)
Injury Report
Minnesota – Parise (out), Coyle (out)
Toronto – Matthews (questionable)
The Minnesota Wild kicked off a four game road trip with another poor effort in Monday’s 5-3 loss at Boston. Devan Dubnyk was pulled after 40 minutes and gave way to Alex Stalock. Dubnyk has been a big reason why the Wild continue to struggle as he’s well below his career averages with just a .907 save percentage and a goals-against average of over three. He just doesn’t look right and I’m not sure if he’s battling an unknown injury or what but he needs to be better if the Wild hope to turn this season around. The Wild begin a back-to-back tonight so he’ll give way to Stalock here who will get the start against his former team.
This is going to be a bit of a grudge game for Stalock who was traded from San Jose to Toronto but never actually played a game with them. The team literally told him they didn’t need him and he was placed on waivers immediately. He didn’t even get a chance to play much for the Marlies in the AHL so he’ll have extra motivation to win this game.
Fun time was over in practice yesterday as Boudreau took a new approach after a tough loss. A couple of weeks ago after a 1-0 loss to Vancouver, Boudreau let the team off the hook with a “fun” practice to try and keep things loose. Yesterday was anything but loose as he put the Wild through a grueling near hour-long practice followed by an extensive video session. Boudreau also called out Nino Niederreiter for his lack of effort during Monday’s game and then the rest of the team for not working hard enough.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had lost five of their previous six games before Monday’s harder than expected 4-3 shootout win over Vegas.
The big news for the Leafs here is Auston Matthews was absent from practice yesterday as he’s dealing with soreness. The world almost imploded on Monday when it was announced on Twitter that Matthews left practice just minutes into the session and did not return. He was a game-time decision that night but ended up playing and had a good game but Babcock thought it was clear he was lacking his normal power. Babcock said he wasn’t sure if Matthews might need to miss a game so that will be the biggest thing to watch for this morning.
William Nylander, fresh out of Babcock’s doghouse played center in yesterday’s practice and Babcock was less than thrilled about it and said he isn’t sure what the lines would look like for tonight if Matthews is out. As deep as the Leafs were to begin the season they are suddenly struggling with their depth down the middle.
This line opened a touch high but has dropped significantly with the sharp move this morning. I had written this previously with Minnesota locked in as a +131 play and the move happened right when I was about to submit today’s report. Technically there isn’t the usual amount of value I recommend for a play but it’s still a touch over my range so I’m still going to play the Wild tonight.
BOSTON BRUINS @ NEW YORK RANGERS
Projected Goaltenders
Boston – Tuukka Rask (confirmed)
NY Rangers – Henrik Lundqvist (likely)
Injury Report
Boston – Krejci (out), Backes (out), Spooner (out), Marchand (out), McQuaid (out)
NY Rangers – no significant injuries
The Boston Bruins took two out of three on their homestand, capped by Monday’s 5-3 win over Minnesota and now hit the road for a pair of games. The Bruins play a home-and-home against Toronto after this stop in New York so this might be a game they overlook a bit with the big rivalry on deck.
The big news here is Brad Marchand has already officially been ruled out for tonight.
The Bruins were able to overcome his absence in Monday’s game against a lackluster Wild team who didn’t show up until it was too late in the third period. They might not be so fortunate tonight against a Rangers team who have suddenly won four straight while averaging 4.5 goals a game.
The New York Rangers continued their recent surge with a comeback 5-3 victory over Columbus on Monday night which has temporarily removed Alain Vigneault from the hot seat. The Rangers 5-on-5 play actually hasn’t been the best over this recent run but their powerplay is firing on all cylinders with six goals over the last four games. Vigneault has also shortened his bench lately, including the entire third period last game where he only rolled three lines. It’s helped in the short-term but playing without a fourth line at all isn’t going to be sustainable. New York has been fortunate with one of the easiest travel schedules to begin the season and things don’t really get tough for them until January so maybe Vigneault can continue squeezing everything he can from the current setup.
This line opened just below where it should be and a small drop overnight has given us enough value to play the Rangers tonight. There’s not a lot of wiggle room here so hopefully we can get this line early enough before an expected move.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING @ SAN JOSE SHARKS
Projected Goaltenders
Tampa Bay – Andrei Vasilevskiy/Peter Budaj (unknown)
San Jose – Martin Jones (likely)
Injury Report
Tampa Bay – no significant injuries
San Jose – Martin (out), Vlasic (probable), Thornton (probable)
The Tampa Bay Lightning found their way back into the win column with Saturday’s 5-4 shootout win over Columbus and now hit the road for the three game trek through California.
The Lightning will travel to Los Angeles for tomorrow’s game on the back-to-back and it’s unclear whether we’ll see Vasilevskiy or Budaj tonight.
The San Jose Sharks are banking points on their current five game homestand with their third consecutive win on Saturday, 2-1 over Anaheim.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic has fully practiced the last two days and is expected to return to the lineup tonight after missing time going through concussion protocol. His presence will be critical tonight to slow down the top line of Stamkos and Kucherov.
Another player to look for today is Joe Thornton who left Monday’s practice early and did not participate yesterday in what DeBoer called a “maintenance day”. DeBoer said he expects Thornton to play tonight but we’ll wait and see.
Kevin Labanc was sent down to the AHL on Sunday. He was recently dropped from the top line to the fourth but DeBoer insists it had nothing to do with his compete level. Labanc was off to a nice start so the demotion was interesting.
My numbers say we had a big edge on Tampa Bay based on the opener but an early sharp move this morning has moved the Bolts to a favorite where they should be. There’s just enough value left to make this a play but I’m going to wait until a goaltender confirmation and re-evaluate. If Vlasic ends up not playing for some reason (and Thornton to a lesser extent) then this would still be an auto-play on the Lightning so we’ll look for that confirmation, as well.