Happy New Year, everyone! There are two NHL games around the NHL today, in addition to the Centennial Classic. Here are the top picks, plays and predictions.
ML +165 / -185 O/U 5 |
ML +125 / -150 O/U 5.5 |
Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders around the NHL, courtesy of LeftWingLock.
Senators vs Capitals: The Washington Capitals are coming off a sound drumming of the New Jersey Devils yesterday afternoon. Washington was firing from every angle, and scoring from almost every angle.
Though they allowed nine powerplay opportunities- yes, nine- the Caps bent but did not break. The Devils were fruitless on the man advantage.
T.J. Oshie, Justin Williams, Alex Ovechkin, Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik all registered a multi-point night. Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves on 23 shots.
Washington has also taken five of their last six against the Ottawa Senators.
The Sens are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings. It was a cool game for Jared Coreau, who had his parents and his 92-year-old grandmother in attendance watching. Coreau was born just 45 minutes from the arena. But the joy and the emotion of the moment was surely lost on the Ottawa squad who came out on the losing end.
Derick Brassard had a goal and an assist on the night, as he has been heating up a bit of late. Brassard has five points in his last six games, giving him 17 on the season. It’s a little unfair to make an evaluation of who won the Brassard-Zibanejad trade given how soon it has been and how Brassard has played twice as many games as Zibanejad this season. However, Zibanejad was even with Brassard in points until his two-point night against Detroit despite not playing since November 20th.
The over is 6-0-1 in the last seven road games for the Senators, though the under is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings in Washington.
It is hard to take the pick of rest over a back-to-back since the Devils were so little of a threat against Washington yesterday. But the penalty killers will surely be a bit tired given the magnitude of their workload. The top line players should be just fine, though.
Mike Condon will be in net for the Senators against Braden Holtby. Condon is 4-1-1 in his last six starts.
Prediction: Take the Capitals to win tonight. Play the over.
Flyers vs Ducks: This has not been a great road trip for the Philadelphia Flyers so far. Though they managed to string together a double-digit-long winning streak earlier in December, the Flyers have stumbled a bit after that streak ended. Since winning their 10th game in a row, Philly is 1-4-1, with now three losses in a row on the road against New Jersey, St. Louis and San Jose.
They have been shut out twice in their last three games. Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux, Braden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds have combined for seven points in their last six games.
Steve Mason appeared to injure his hand in his last start, meaning rookie Anthony Stolarz could be getting the call tonight against the Ducks. Stolarz stopped 21 of 22 shots in relief against San Jose. He has won both his starts this season, including a 28-save shutout against the Red Wings.
Anaheim fell in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on the tail-end of a back-to-back on Friday. The Ducks are just 1-1-3 in their last five games- getting points, just not wins. Points will suffice in the Pacific Division though, as the Ducks are still just three points behind the Sharks for the division lead. The Western Conference is a weird place to be this year.
Sami Vatanen will probably return to the lineup tonight. He missed the last three games battling an illness. Brandon Montour will be ready in the event that Vatanen is not ready to go.
It was also revealed that Clayton Stoner underwent abdominal surgery back on December 21st and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
Prediction: Take the Flyers to win tonight. Play the under.
