A WINNER last night as the Avalanche beat the Penguins to cash our huge underdog play. What a fantastic game of hockey played last night in Pittsburgh by both teams. It was a great game to watch and there were plenty of scoring chances by both teams. Giguere made some incredible saves near the end where it looked like Pittsburgh was going to send the game to overtime with a goal but they couldn’t get one past Giguere. We have three picks going for tonight:
New Jersey Devils @ Columbus Blue Jackets: Blue Jackets 1.71
The New Jersey Devils, who finally won a game on Saturday, currently sit with a 1-4-3 record, and have lost all 6 games on the road (0-4-2). The Devils are without Patrik Elias (4th in Points for the Devils with 4 points), and Ryan Clowe (1 point) as they are both injured. Damien Brunner (second place in points for the Devils at 5 points) is questionable for tonight with an upper body injury. The Devils manage to average 2.12 Goals for per game, but allow 3.00 Goals Against. They have a low 11.5% success rate on the powerplay, and face a Blue Jackets Penalty Kill Unit that stops 76% of their opponents powerplays. The Blue Jackets are scoring more goals than the Devils, at 2.25 G/G. They also allow fewer goals at 2.75 GA/G. Sergei Bobrovsky will start for Columbus tonight, he currently has a 2.70 GAA and a .917 SV%. He will face Cory Scheneider who has a slightly better record with a 1.99 GAA and a .927 SV%. Unless the Devils can pull off something spectacular tonight, the Blue Jackets should have no problem defeating them in front of a home crowd.
Vancouver Canucks @ New York Islanders: Islanders 2.09
We will take the New York Islanders tonight as home underdogs in New York for a great price. The Islanders have been scoring more goals than the Canucks each game, at an average of 3.00 G/G, compared to the Canucks, which are not too far behind at 2.70 G/G. The Islanders have played 8 games this season to date, and have a record of 3-3-2. They have gone 2-1-2 at home. The Canucks have played 10 games, (5-4-1) and have gone 3-2-1 Away. The Vancouver power play unit is lacking success; they are currently only converting on 11.1% of their powerplays. They do make up for this with their Penalty Kill unit though, as they are killing 91.4% of their penalties. The Islanders powerplay is more than twice as successful as Vancouver’s, as the Islanders have a 25% success rate on the Powerplay. Their PK unit is also doing a decent job, at 82.6 PK%. Evgeni Nabokov has been confirmed to start the game for the Isles tonight, he is 3-2-2 with a 2.50 GAA and a .914SV%. Roberto Luongo is probable to start for Vancouver, he is 4-3-1 with a 2.47 GAA. Lets stick with a solid Home underdog tonight with the New York Islanders.
Edmonton Oilers @ Montreal Canadiens: Canadiens in Regulation 1.83
Carey Price will face Devan Dubnyk tonight as both goaltenders have been confirmed to start. The Edmonton Oilers are allowing an average of 4.00 goals per game, and their goaltender Devan Dubnyk also shares a similar Goals Against Average. He is 1-4-1 with a 4.20 GAA and a .877 SV%. The Oilers have gone 2-6-1 this season, and their Away record is also a dismal 1-4-1. The Edmonton Oilers offense are managing to score an average of 2.78 goals/game, which isn’t too bad, but it isn’t too good either. This is a recipe for disaster if you can’t score many goals and can’t stop them either. We have a Canadiens offense who can score almost as many goals as the Oilers allow, at 3.25 G/G. The Montreal defense is doing good for themselves, allowing an average of 1.88 GA/G. The Candiens Penalty Kill has also been solid, as they stop 81.1% of their opponents powerplays. They also have a decent Power Play percentage, at 22.9%. An undesirable statistic about the Candiens is their PIM/G. They are currently average 17.6 Penalty Minutes each game and that number needs to be cut down. It’s a shame to see a good team give goals away by taking too many sloppy penalties. Luckily though, the Oilers Powerplay squad is only successful 14.3% of the time. We will look for the Candiens to handle this one in 60 minutes tonight in Montreal.
