Hockey Today
SCOREBOARD
Monday, Dec. 15
San Jose at Los Angeles (10:30 p.m. EST). Both teams are coming off home victories Saturday. NHL-leading San Jose beat St. Louis 5-4, and Los Angeles edged Minnesota 3-1.
STARS
Sunday
— Cristobal Huet, Blackhawks, made 31 saves in Chicago’s 3-1 victory over Columbus.
— Pavel Demitra, Canucks, scored twice to help Vancouver beat Florida 5-3.
— Brendan Morrison, Ducks, scored the go-ahead goal in the second period in Anaheim’s 4-2 victory over Minnesota.
SO LONG
Whenever Sean Avery is ready to return to the NHL, it won’t be with the Dallas Stars. The combative forward was eligible to return from a six-game suspension Sunday, but the Stars instead announced Avery will not rejoin the team—ever. Avery was only 23 games into a four-year, $15.5 million deal when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman suspended him for a crude remark about former girlfriends dating other players.
SIDELINED
San Jose center Jeremy Roenick will be sidelined about three weeks because of a shoulder injury. The 38-year-old Roenick, in his 20th NHL season, was hurt in the first period Thursday night against Anaheim. The Sharks recalled forward Jamie McGinn from Worcester of the AHL.
SWAP
Dallas acquired center Brian Sutherby from Anaheim on Sunday for the rights to Colgate junior center David McIntyre and a conditional 2010 sixth-round draft pick. Sutherby had three goals and three assists in 17 games for Anaheim this season. The Stars also reassigned defenseman Dan Jancevski to Hamilton of the AHL.
SCOUTING
Addison DeBoer scored a short-handed goal, and Richard Bachman made 21 saves in Colorado College’s 1-0 victory over Minnesota. … Felix Lefrancois and defenseman Emmanuel Boudreau each scored twice and added an assist in the Rimouski Oceanic’s 9-0 victory over Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Sunday in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. … Colton Sceviour scored in overtime to give the Lethbridge Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League.
SPEAKING
“We don’t want to ruin Sean or his career. We want him to get better. The team needs to move on and start winning and he needs to take care of himself. … As a hockey player, I think there’s no question he can be an asset. That said, he’s got to fix the demons he has. It becomes such a huge distraction that it almost takes away from his ability to play the game.”—Dallas co-general manager Brett Hull after the Stars said Sean Avery will not rejoin the team— ever.
Trend Sheet
COLORADO (14-14-0-1, 29 pts.) at DETROIT (20-5-0-4, 44 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
DETROIT is 22-3 ATS (+15.2 Units) in home games after scoring 4 goals or more in their previous game over the last 2 seasons.
COLORADO is 23-12 ATS (+10.5 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the first half of the season over the last 3 seasons.
Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 10-2 (+7.0 Units) against the spread versus COLORADO over the last 3 seasons
DETROIT is 10-2-0 straight up against COLORADO over the last 3 seasons
7 of 12 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.8 Units)
SAN JOSE (24-3-0-2, 50 pts.) at LOS ANGELES (13-12-0-4, 30 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
SAN JOSE is 24-5 ATS (+14.2 Units) in all games this season.
SAN JOSE is 8-0 ATS (+8.0 Units) in a road game where where the total is 5.5 this season.
SAN JOSE is 8-0 ATS (+8.0 Units) in road games in December games over the last 2 seasons.
SAN JOSE is 24-5 ATS (+14.2 Units) first half of the season this season.
SAN JOSE is 17-6 ATS (+7.7 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a losing record over the last 2 seasons.
SAN JOSE is 12-2 ATS (+8.9 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a losing record in the first half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
LOS ANGELES is 12-34 ATS (+63.1 Units) after a win by 2 goals or more over the last 3 seasons.
Head-to-Head Series History
SAN JOSE is 12-6-0 straight up against LOS ANGELES over the last 3 seasons
8 of 16 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=-0.2 Units, Under=-1.1 Units)
COLORADO vs. DETROIT
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Colorado's last 7 games
Colorado is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Detroit is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games at home
SAN JOSE vs. LOS ANGELES
San Jose is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of San Jose's last 5 games when playing on the road against Los Angeles
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Los Angeles's last 6 games
Los Angeles is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing San Jose
Hot teams
-- Red Wings won four of last five games, with their last three wins all coming in OT/SO.
-- Los Angeles won three of its last four games. Sharks won ten of their last eleven games.
Cold teams
-- Avalanche lost four of their last five road games.
Totals
-- Five of last seven Colorado games went over the total.
-- Three of last four San Jose games stayed under the total.
Series Records
-- Red Wings are 14-2 in last sixteen vs Colorado; they swept Avalanche out of playoffs last spring, 4-0.
-- Sharks won five of last six games against the Kings.
Monday's best NHL bets
Colorado Avalanche at Detroit Red Wings (-240, 5.5)
One of the NHL's best rivalries has lost some of its luster since the Avalanche stumbled into mediocrity. Colorado is 14-14-0-1 on the season after a horrible November, but managed to stagger wins and losses in the past month.
Detroit continues to uphold its part of the grudge match. The Red Wings are one of the best teams in the league and picked up their fifth win in the last six games Saturday night. Detroit edged Phoenix 5-4 in a shootout, getting two goals from Johan Franzen.
Those five victories have all been one-goal games, with three of them going to additional time. The Red Wings are scoring just under four goals a game during this stretch, but have allowed 3.33 goals against while bouncing between goaltenders Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin.
“When we get down one or two goals we put everything out there,” Franzen told reporters. “We play better that way than when we have a lead. It gives us confidence we can come from behind. If you do it once, you can do it again.”
If the hatred between these teams is rekindled Monday, Detroit has the chops to weather the storm.
Pick: Detroit -240
San Jose Sharks at Los Angeles Kings (+165, 5.5)
Don't look now, but there could be another hot streak brewing in California.
The Los Angeles Kings captured their third win in the past four games with a solid 3-1 victory over Minnesota Saturday night. The Kings defense did a great job holding off the Wild after hanging on to a 1-0 lead for most of the game.
While the offense is scoring under three goals per game, Los Angeles' blueliners are limiting opponents to just 2.7 goals and a league-low 26 shots per game. They gave up 34 shots to Minnesota, but goaltender Erik Ersberg was sharp in his second straight win. He just missed out on a shutout after allowing a goal in the final two minutes of the game.
"Ersberg was great," Kings coach Terry Murray told reporters. "The plays they had at the net were quick plays, hard plays, stuff coming from around the back of the net."
Pick: Los Angeles +165