What Bettors Need to Know: Wings at Hawks Game 3
By ARI BAUM-COHEN
Detroit Red Wings at Chicago Blackhawks (-125, 5.5)
Will Datsyuk Play?
Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk missed Thursday’s practice and his status is uncertain for Friday’s game. The Hart Trophy finalist was injured during Game 2 when he was hit in the thigh with a shot.
Jiri Hudler took Datsyuk’s place on a line between Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa. Though Datsyuk only has seven points in 13 playoff games, he finished fourth in the league with 97 points during the regular season
Balancing act
The Wings have players on all four lines that can score and received contributions from unlikely sources on Tuesday with Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals.
In order to win, the Blackhawks need consistent production from both their top forwards and secondary scorers. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane played much better on separate lines in Game 2, but Chicago did not receive any secondary scoring. Coach Joel Quenneville has not yet disclosed whether they will be re-united for tonight’s match.
Special teams
Detroit’s penalty kill is (71.7 percent) the worst of the four remaining playoff teams. They have given up power play goals in 11 straight playoff games, a franchise record.
To make matters worse, they’re facing a Chicago team with the best power play in the playoffs, scoring 29.8 percent of the time. The Hawks out-worked the Wings last game and were able to generate five man advantage opportunities as opposed to only one in Game 1.
Turnovers
The Blackhawks must limit their turnovers to win Game 3.
Detroit’s overtime winning goal was a byproduct of a Chicago turnover. Samuelsson scored on the ensuing 3-on-1 rush and the Wings won despite not playing their best hockey.
“I didn’t think last night we had much,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “It looked like we didn’t have the pop we needed to be as good as we could be last night.”
Home-ice advantage: Dogs and Beer
Detroit has only been an underdog in five games this season and went just 1-4 in those situations. Two of those games were in Chicago: The Winter Classic (Wings 6, Hawks 4) and the final game of the regular season (Hawks 3, Wings 0).
The Wings will have to win in a building that is so loud that coach Joel Quenneville has admitted to having difficulty yelling out line changes.
Hopefully there will be plenty of taxis waiting outside the arena for the rowdy crowd. The Blackhawks set a franchise record in their last home game with 38,000 beers sold. Chicago is 5-1 at home this postseason.
Series Star Watch
Pavel Datsyuk: 0 goals, 2 assists, +1
Henrik Zetterberg: 1 goal, 1 assist, +4
Jonathan Toews: 2 goals, 0 assists, -2
Patrick Kane: 0 goals, 0 assists, -5
Other Trends
- Detroit is 5-1 in its last six games
- Chicago is 6-1 in its last seven games at home
- The over is 4-1 in Detroit’s last five games as an underdog
- The under is 9-3 in Chicago’s last 23 games at home
- Teams up 2-0 in the series are 121-102 when playing Game 3 on the road
Do or Die for the Blackhawks
By Judd Hall
The Western Conference Final between the Red Wings and Blackhawks has been just as close as was expected. And just like we expected, Detroit has found itself just a tad better than upstarts from the Windy City.
So now down two-games-to-none, the Blackhawks come home to the United Center for Game 3 in what really is a must win situation.
Most sportsbooks are expecting Joel Quenneville’s to bounce back on Friday night by installing them as $1.35 home favorites with a total of 5 ½.
It isn’t far fetched to think that the ‘Hawks can bounce back on home ice considering how close they played to the champs in Games 1 and 2. They’re relatively close in terms of shots on goal (71-81) for the series and played extremely well on Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena.
What Chicago needs most right now is seeing the youngsters step up on the biggest stage that they’ve played on thus far. Jonathan Toews found his touch again in Game 2 by accounting for both of the Blackhawks’ goals. Patrick Kane is having a tough go of it in this series so far. He’s yet to find the back of the net and took his first three shots on goal last Tuesday.
At first blush, you’d think that Kane wouldn’t enjoy being back at the UC as he’s scored just eight goals this season at home. And I’ve got to say that is still a fair assessment since Kane’s hat trick against Vancouver are his lone lamp lighters in the playoffs at home.
Detroit might be sitting pretty with a 2-0 lead right now, but they were outplayed on Tuesday night and head coach Mike Babcock knows it. “We didn’t have any legs or any pop whatsoever. We had good will and determination, but no legs.”
Marian Hossa has been nowhere to be found on the attack, taking seven total shot in this series with no goals to show for it. He hasn’t scored in five straight playoff matches on 24 SOG. Pavel Datsyuk is another skater that the Wings need to get going to keep successful, but that’s easier said than done. Datsyuk has lit the lamp just once this postseason, compared to the eight he had at this same point of the playoffs last year.
The Red Wings have enjoyed Chris Osgood’s play up to this point of the postseason. He had a 3.09 goals against average and .887 save percentage during the regular season. In the playoffs, he’s stopping 92.5 percent of the shots fired his way and had a GAA of 2.04.
Detroit has needed Osgood to step up with its special teams defense playing as poorly as it has been. The Wings’ penalty kill unit has given up a goal in nine of their last 13 playoff games. That lousy PK play could really help out some ‘over’ plays.
The problem with that high score idea is that the Blackhawks haven’t really seen it play out that way at home this year. Chicago has seen the ‘under’ go 23-21-2 over the course of the season at United Center.
There isn’t much of an edge to getting a high score in this tilt though as the ‘over’ is just 12-11-3 in the 26 matches the ‘Hawks and Wings have played in Chicago since 2000.
Playing Chicago as the home “chalk” has been profitable recently as they’re on a 6-1 run and 11-3 in its last 14 tilts in that spot.
Bettors looking for a nice payoff should consider taking the Blackhawks to cover the puck line for a plus-230 return (-1 ½ goals, risk $100 to win $230). Before you take that wager to the counter, just keep in mind that Chicago is 22-25 on the puck line in 47 home games this season.
The puck drops on this contest at 8:05 p.m. EDT with Versus handling the broadcasting duties.
vegasinsider.com
Hockey Today
SCOREBOARD
Friday, May 22
Detroit at Chicago (8 p.m. EDT). The defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 3-2 in overtime Tuesday night in Detroit to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
STAR
Thursday
— Evgeni Malkin(notes), Penguins, scored three goals—two in the third period—for his first NHL playoff hat trick and led Pittsburgh to a 7-4 win over Carolina and a 2-0 advantage in the Eastern Conference finals.
STATS
Sidney Crosby(notes) scored a record-tying sixth goal to start a playoff game in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 7-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. Crosby scored his playoff-leading 13th goal 1:51 into the game—the sixth time he has scored the opening goal in these playoffs. Bobby Hull of the Blackhawks (1962) and Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani(notes) in 2006 also had six game-opening goals in a playoff year.
FAREWELL
Hall of Fame player Clint Smith, a two-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy while with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, has died, the Vancouver Canucks said Thursday. He was 95. Smith played 11 years in the NHL with New York (1936-43) and Chicago (1943-47) and was the lone surviving member of the Rangers’ Stanley Cup-winning team in 1940. Smith was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.
SCOUTING
Dale Mitchell(notes) scored three goals in the first 8 minutes of the third period to help the Windsor Spitfires beat the host Rimouski Oceanic 6-4 on Thursday night in the Memorial Cup tiebreaker game. The Spitfires will face Drummondville in the semifinal Friday night, with the winner advancing to the final Sunday against Kelowna.
SPEAKING
“This isn’t going to be a four-game series, I’ll tell you that.”— Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason(notes) after the Hurricanes were beaten 7-4 by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Mikael Samuelsson scored at 5:14 of overtime to lift the Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Blackhawks in Game 2 on Tuesday.
The Red Wings won that game as -200 favorites, and the five goals went UNDER the posted over/under (5.5).
Jonathan Toews scored a pair of markers for the Blackhawks. Nikolai Khabibulin made 35 saves in a losing effort.
Team records:
Detroit: 51-21-10
Chicago: 46-24-12
Detroit most recently:
When playing on Friday are 6-4
Before playing Edmonton are 6-4
After playing Chicago are 9-1
After a win are 7-3
Chicago most recently:
When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing Edmonton are 7-3
After playing Detroit are 5-5
After a loss are 6-4
A few trends to consider:
Detroit is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
Detroit is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing Chicago
Detroit is 10-4 SU in its last 14 games on the road
Detroit is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Chicago is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Chicago's last 12 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Chicago's last 12 games
Chicago is 14-7 SU in its last 21 games
Next up:
Chicago home to Detroit, Sunday, May 24
DETROIT (61-23-0-11, 133 pts.) at CHICAGO (54-30-0-12, 120 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
CHICAGO is 27-15 ATS (+42.3 Units) when playing with 2 days rest over the last 2 seasons.
CHICAGO is 49-43 ATS (+100.1 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 2 seasons.
CHICAGO is 32-52 ATS (-29.3 Units) in home games on Friday nights since 1996.
CHICAGO is 10-16 ATS (-11.8 Units) vs. division opponents this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 16-8 (+0.0 Units) against the spread versus CHICAGO over the last 3 seasons
DETROIT is 16-8-0 straight up against CHICAGO over the last 3 seasons
11 of 20 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.6 Units)
DETROIT vs. CHICAGO
Detroit is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games when playing on the road against Chicago
Detroit is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games when playing Chicago
Chicago is 14-7 SU in its last 21 games
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Chicago's last 12 games
Western Conference Finals
Detroit at Chicago
Detroit:
13-2 Over after allowing 2 goals or less BB Games
24-14 Over off BB wins
Chicago:
23-8 SU as a home favorite of -200 or less
18-5 SU off BB Division games
NHL Playoffs
Detroit is 6-2 vs Chicago this year, winning two of three here, where the Blackhawks are 5-1 so far in playoffs. Red Wings are 3-2 on road so far in playoffs. Chicago had 19 shots on goal in first period of Game 2, but it was still just 1-1 after first period for second game in row. Detroit has one power play goal in 10:16 on power play; Chicago is 2-6 on power play (8:37). Three of last four Chicago games went over the total.