Hockey Today
SCOREBOARD
Thursday, April 23
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh (7 p.m. EDT). Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia 3-1 on Tuesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series.
STARS
Wednesday
— Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers, made 38 saves—half of them in the second period—in New York’s 2-1 victory over Washington. The Rangers lead the series 3-1.
— Michael Ryder, Bruins, scored twice and assisted on David Krejci’s goal in Boston’s 4-1 win in Montreal. The Bruins won the series 4-0.
— Eric Nystrom, Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginla, Flames. Nystrom broke a tie off a rebound with 6:56 left and had two assists, Jokinen scored the first two goals of his playoff career and added an assist, and Iginla also scored twice and had an assist in Calgary’s 6-4 victory over Chicago. The series is tied 2-2.
SWEEP
Boston beat Montreal 4-1 on Wednesday night to sweep the Canadiens. The series victory was Boston’s first in 10 years. The Bruins had lost five straight series—falling to Montreal in 2002, ’04 and ’08—since beating Carolina in the first round in 1999.
SELECTED
Columbus goalie Steve Mason joined Anaheim right winger Bobby Ryan and Chicago left winger Kris Versteeg as Calder Trophy finalists Wednesday for the rookie of the year award. Mason led the NHL with 10 shutouts and ranked second with a 2.29 goals-against average. The trophy will be awarded June 18 in Las Vegas.
SCOUTING
Eric Wellwood scored 10:14 into overtime to give the Windsor Spitfires a 4-3 victory over the London Knights on Wednesday night and a 4-1 series win in the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference finals. John Tavares had a goal for London. Windsor will play the Brampton-Belleville winner in the championship series. … The Calgary Hitmen advanced to the Western Hockey League finals, beating the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-4 to complete a four-game sweep. Keith Seabrook, Paul Postma, Alex Plante, Bostjan Golicic, Brett Sonne and Tomas Karpov scored for Calgary, set to face the Vancouver-Kelowna winner in the championship series.
SPEAKING
“He’s like Tina Turner. He’s ‘Simply the Best.”’—New York forward Brandon Dubinsky on Henrik Lundqvist after the goalie made 38 saves in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory over Washington on Wednesday night. New York leads the series 3-1.
PHILADELPHIA (45-29-0-12, 102 pts.) at PITTSBURGH (48-29-0-9, 105 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
PITTSBURGH is 22-9 (+12.3 Units) against the spread versus PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
PITTSBURGH is 22-9-0 straight up against PHILADELPHIA over the last 3 seasons
19 of 29 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+7.4 Units)
DETROIT (54-21-0-10, 118 pts.) at COLUMBUS (41-34-0-10, 92 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
COLUMBUS is 9-16 (+0.7 Units) against the spread versus DETROIT over the last 3 seasons
DETROIT is 16-9-0 straight up against COLUMBUS over the last 3 seasons
15 of 22 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+7.5 Units)
CAROLINA (47-31-0-8, 102 pts.) at NEW JERSEY (53-28-0-5, 111 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
NEW JERSEY is 9-7 (+0.6 Units) against the spread versus CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
NEW JERSEY is 9-7-0 straight up against CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
8 of 13 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+2.5 Units)
SAN JOSE (54-20-0-11, 119 pts.) at ANAHEIM (44-34-0-7, 95 pts.)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
ANAHEIM is 14-11 (+4.5 Units) against the spread versus SAN JOSE over the last 3 seasons
ANAHEIM is 14-11-0 straight up against SAN JOSE over the last 3 seasons
15 of 22 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Under=+6.5 Units)
DETROIT vs. COLUMBUS
Detroit is 12-6 SU in its last 18 games when playing on the road against Columbus
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games when playing on the road against Columbus
Columbus is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing Detroit
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Columbus's last 8 games when playing Detroit
PHILADELPHIA vs. PITTSBURGH
Philadelphia is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Philadelphia's last 8 games
Pittsburgh is 14-5 SU in its last 19 games when playing Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Pittsburgh's last 5 games when playing Philadelphia
CAROLINA vs. NEW JERSEY
Carolina is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against New Jersey
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Carolina's last 5 games on the road
New Jersey is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Carolina
New Jersey is 3-6 SU in its last 9 games when playing Carolina
SAN JOSE vs. ANAHEIM
The total has gone UNDER in 14 of San Jose's last 21 games when playing Anaheim
San Jose is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
Anaheim is 12-4 SU in its last 16 games
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Anaheim's last 9 games
NHL Playoffs
Detroit goes for sweep and rest before second round herel they've been outshot 24-14 in third period of last two games, which were over before third period started. Columbus lost nine of last eleven games, losing first three series games by combined score of 12-2; they're 1-11 on power play in series. Ten of last twelve series games stayed under the total.
Penguins won twelve of last sixteen games overall, eight of last eleven vs Flyers; they were outshot 46-26 in Game 4, 34-13 in last two periods, Flyers are 3-22 on power play in series after not scoring in 12:47 with man advantage in Game 4- they lost first two games here, 4-1/3-2ot; two of Pittsburgh's three goals in Game 2 came on the power play.
Devils, Hurricanes split pair of OT games in Games 2-3, before Carolina scored with 0:00.2 left to win Game 4 and even series; 'canes outshot the Devils 46-29 in Game 4, 37-17 in first two periods. Teams combined to go 2 for 31 on power play in series so far (52:09). Seven of the last nine series games stayed under the total.
San Jose went 2-3 on power play in Game 3, after being 0-12 in the first two games- they outshot Ducks 99-51 in first seven periods of series, but Anaheim steadied in last two periods of Game 3, outshooting Sharks 22-15. Ducks are now 12-4 in its last 16 games, so they're hot at right time. Road team won all three series games so far.
Philadelphia at Pittsburgh
Philadelphia:
23-56 SU revenging a loss of 2+ goals
9-22 SU against Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh:
17-5 SU at home when the total is 5.5
9-0 SU at home in April
Detroit at Columbus
Detroit:
7-13 SU Away off BB division games
2-8 SU Away off BB home wins by 2+ goals
Columbus:
8-3 SU as home underdog
14-5 SU off a division loss by 4+ goals
New Jersey at Carolina
Carolina:
1-5 SU AWAY when the total is 5 or less
16-27 SU off a win by 1 goal
New Jersey:
15-5 SU at home when the money line is -100 to -150
17-5 SU after BB road games
San Jose at Anaheim
San Jose:
4-7 SU after having lost 3 of their last 4
4-8 SU AWAY off a road win
Anaheim:
21-8 SU when leading in a playoff series
16-10 SU revenging a same season loss