Wednesday's Best NHL Bets
Toronto Maple Leafs at Florida Panthers
The Maple Leafs came blazing out of the gates, but have reverted back to their normal (and expected) form, dropping five straight contests while gaining only two points heading into Tuesday's game with Tampa Bay.
The biggest cause of the skid can be attributed to Toronto sniper Phil Kessel, who has not even been able to tally a single point in those five losses.
The Leafs will also continue to without top defenseman Dion Phaneuf, who is out with a severe leg laceration.
For the Leafs to get back to their winning ways, Kessel and Co. will need to get back on track against Tomas Vokoun and the Panthers.
Vokoun has also struggled lately, but he is still one of the game’s better netminders and he should be able to prolong the Leafs’ woes at least one more game.
Florida also has been getting strong play from leading scorer David Booth, while Rostislav Olesz has three points in his last three games.
Pick: Panthers
Buffalo Sabres at New Jersey Devils
Two of the league’s premier goalies will likely be out when the Sabres visit the Devils Wednesday.
Last year’s Vezina Trophy winner, Ryan Miller, has missed the past four games for the Sabres with a “lower-body injury” while the Devils’ Martin Brodeur injured his elbow two games ago and sat out New Jersey’s last game Friday night.
Miller is out indefinitely while Brodeur is listed as doubtful – bad news for both teams who use their netminders as their anchors.
Buffalo allowed 14 goals in the four games that Miller missed and ended up losing three of those efforts. Goaltending duties have fallen to third-string rookie Swede Jhonas Enroth for the past two games because second stringer Patrick Lalime has been out with an undisclosed illness.
Enroth is 1-1 in two starts with a mere .865 save percentage.
Johan Hedberg, meanwhile, will likely play in his fifth game this season for New Jersey. Hedberg is 1-2 in his starts with a pitiful goals against average of .824.
Pick: Over
New York Islanders at Anaheim Ducks (-165, 5.5) odds provided by logans
Anaheim started the season as poorly as one team could, being outscored 13-2 in three opening losses, but has rounded into shape, winning three straight and four of the last six contests.
The Ducks’ turnaround can be directly tied to the improved play of their top scorers. Ryan Getzlaf has three goals in his last four games, Corey Perry has five points in a four-game point streak, veteran Teemu Selanne has seven points in his last four games and Bobby Ryan has five in his last three.
As the Ducks have gotten better, the Islanders are in a freefall. They’ve lost seven straight games, allowing 31 goals in the process. The offense has dried up as well, with the team managing more than one goal only once in their past five losses.
Star centre John Tavares has just one assist in his past five games and, with the Islanders having to travel across the country to play, it doesn’t bode well for their chances of ending their slide.
Pick: Ducks
Boston Bruins host Penguins in NHL odds battle
By: Barry Daniels
Hockey bettors planning to make a wager on Wednesday’s Eastern Conference clash between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins would be wise to check the starting netminders for both teams before going to the window. There is a big discrepancy in the records of the starting and backup goalies for both squads.
The Bruins are coming off Saturday’s 2-1 shootout loss against St. Louis as 120 home favorites. It was Boston’s third game in four nights and meant that backup goalie Tuukka Rask was between the pipes in place of starter Tim Thomas.
Rask certainly did not play poorly, stopping 33-of-35 St. Louis shots. Nevertheless, Rask saw his record slip to 0-3-0-1 despite a 2.66 GAA and nifty .921 save percentage.
However, Thomas figures to get the call in goal in Wednesday’s game. That’s bad news for the Penguins considering the 36-year-old Michigan native has won all seven of his starts this season. Thomas leads the league with a 1.04 GAA, .967 save percentage and three shutouts.
Playing away from home has not been a problem for the Bruins so far this season, evidenced by a 5-1-0-0 ledger in their first six road tests.
Bruins forward David Krejci suffered a concussion during a collision in the loss against the Blues and will be out for at least a week. Marc Savard (post-concussion syndrome) and Marco Strum (knee injury), neither of whom has played yet this season, won’t be ready to get back into action until December at the earliest.
The Bruins did not allow the Blues to score in four power play opportunities, and have now yielded just two power play markers in their last 10 games spanning 40 chances. As a result, the Bruins rank first on the penalty kill with a sizzling 92.9 percent success rate.
Boston’s own power play ranks ninth with a 21.4 percent success rate. That has helped the club score an average of three goals per game, which is seventh best in the league. The Bruins are allowing a miniscule 1.7 goals per game, which ranks second.
Pittsburgh’s netminding duo has been a study of polar opposites.
Marc-Andre Fleury amassed a 37-21-6 record last season with a 2.65 GAA and .905 save percentage as the club’s main man. But Fleury has struggled early this season, going 1-6-0-0 with a swollen 3.54 GAA and dismal .853 save percentage.
Though Brent Johnson was 10-6-1 with a 2.76 GAA and .906 save percentage as Fleury’s backup last season, he has shined early this year. The 33-year-old veteran has jumped out to a 6-1-1-0 start with a sparkling 1.62 GAA and .943 save percentage. He also has pitched one shutout.
Johnson was between the pipes last Saturday when the Penguins completed a four-game road trip with a 4-3 shootout win at Phoenix. The Pens split the four games and remain stuck at .500 (7-7-1-0).
Though the combined seven goals sailed ‘over’ the 5 ½-goal closing total, the ‘under’ is still 8-7 in Pittsburgh’s first 15 encounters.
Returning home after that four-game excursion might not be such a good thing, as the Pens are just 2-4-0-0 during their first six outings in the new Consol Energy Center.
The Penguins did not allow the Coyotes to score during four opportunities with the man advantage, and have not yielded a power play goal in their last four games spanning 18 chances. The recent surge has lifted the Pens to the sixth best penalty kill mark in the league with an 87.5 percent success rate.
It is important for the Penguins to be successful on the penalty kill because they have amassed the third most penalty minutes in the league (253).
Pittsburgh was 3-1 against the Bruins last season, including victories in the two home games. The first home meeting resulted in Pittsburgh registering a 6-5 shootout win as a 135 NHL money line favorite. The second match saw the Pens sneak out a 2-1 victory as 140 favorites. The ‘under’ cashed in three of the four series meetings.
The Penguins will stay home during four of their next five games, starting with Friday’s affair against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins will begin a three-game homestand with Thursday’s contest against Montreal.