January 15 2014 Expert NHL Picks
The Oilers played a close game last night both out-shooting and out-hitting the Stars but couldn’t manage to pull of a victory for us. There’s 3 games on the board tonight and we are going with one play:
Vancouver Canucks @ Anahiem Ducks: DUCKS in Regulation 1.94
The Ducks continue to dominate on the ice, and are now sitting first overall in the League with 75 points, and are the only team in the NHL that is still undefeated at Home in regulation time this season. The Anaheim club is now 35-8-5 on the season, and 19-0-2 at Home, while the Canucks are just 24-14-9 on the season, and 12-8-4 when playing on the road. The Ducks offense ranks 3rd overall for scoring, with 3.31 goals per game overall, and have scored 4 or more goals in 6 of their last 10 games. The Ducks defense allows 2.40 goals against per game overall (10th). The Canucks are struggling to find a win, as they have lost 6 of their past 7 games, and were able to score just 2.10 goals per game over their last 10 games. Overall, the Canucks score 2.57 goals per game, 18th overall for scoring. When the Ducks play at the Honda Centre, they score an average of 3.81 goals per game while allowing only 1.81 goals against per game. Over their last 10 games the Canucks have been struggling to score goals, and must face one of the best Home defenses in the NHL tonight (1.81 GA/G). The Ducks power play ranks 22nd overall (16.4%) however when playing at Home the Ducks power play has been successful 20.3% of the time, and their penalty kill is an impressive 85.3% at Home (81.5% overall). When the Canucks met the Kings on Monday, they took a whopping 69 penalty minutes and gave the Kings 7 power play opportunities. Overall, the Canucks are taking 12.0 penalty minutes per game, while the Ducks are slightly more disciplined with an average of 10.0 PIM/G. Jonas Hiller is probable for the Ducks and has a very impressive record. Jonas hasn’t lost a game since Dec.3, an OT loss to the LA Kings. Since then he has won 14 straight games in a row with no signs of slowing down soon. Hiller has a record of 23-4-4, a 2.34 GAA and a .914 SV%. Eddie Lack is probable for Vancouver as Luongo is still day-to-day with his ankle injury. Lack has gone 8-4-3 this season, has a 2.12 GAA and a .924 SV%. Lack has faced the red hot Ducks twice this season, suffering a loss to the Ducks on both occasions and finished the most recent game with a .918 SV% (4-3 loss), and a .909 SV% (3-1 loss) in the meeting on November 10. Also note that the Ducks have out-shot the Canucks 72-56 in those two meetings. The last meeting between these two clubs needed extra minutes, but the Ducks should be able to wrap things up in 60 minutes tonight against the struggling Canucks. We’ll back the best Home team in the NHL tonight for 2 units.
