There are 11 games on the schedule tonight. Let’s take a look around the NHL at the day’s top picks, plays and predictions.
| Capitals vs Islanders ML -109 / -101 O/U 5.5 |
Red Wings vs Penguins ML +118 / -130 O/U 5 |
| Rangers vs Maple Leafs ML -140 / +127 O/U 5 |
Hurricanes vs Senators ML +106 / -117 O/U 5.5 |
| Jets vs Lightning ML +127 / -140 O/U 5.5 |
Sharks vs Panthers ML -130 / +118 O/U 5.5 |
| Kings vs Blues ML +100 / -110 O/U 5 |
Bruins vs Predators ML +118 / -130 O/U 5.5 |
| Wild vs Oilers ML -105 / -105 O/U 5.5 |
Stars vs Coyotes ML -145 / +131 O/U 5.5 |
| Ducks vs Canucks ML -144 / +130 O/U 5 |
Here are today’s starting goaltenders, currently of LeftWingLock.
Play of the Day: Panthers over Sharks.
The Panthers have been having a rough go of it lately. They still sit atop the Atlantic Division standings, but the gap is being closed little by little. Florida is halfway through a six-game homestand, with mixed results so far. Their first two games were exploitations of the defense and of a struggling Roberto Luongo. Five goals were allowed to both St. Louis and Nashville. They rebounded Monday against Pittsburgh, pulling out a 2-1 shootout victory.
Al Montoya will start his second game in a row. Luongo reportedly took a puck to the head in practice and will be sitting out. While it’s for an injury, it still is for the best that Luongo gets as much rest as possible. The 36-year-old goaltender is having the best season he’s had in years, and he is clearly going to be the go-to guy for the playoffs. Florida has the luxury of leaning on Montoya for support. Montoya is 9-4-1 with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
San Jose owns the third-best road record in the NHL with some pretty hard-fought wins of late. Most recently, they bested Tampa Bay 4-2. Joe Thornton has been on a tear, with points in 16 of his last 17 games. Marc-Edouard Vlasic has tied a franchise record for defensemen with an eight-game point streak- a record set earlier this season by Brent Burns.
The Sharks have had a lot of difficulty stringing together wins lately, though. They are on a two game win streak, but they are 1-4 following a win in their last five.
Florida has won seven of the last nine meetings. They have been poor against the Western Conference. Considering eight of their next nine games are against the West, they need to fix that and soon.
Prediction: Montoya is on a roll and the Sharks are due for a loss. Take the Panthers to win at +118. Play the under.
The Game to Watch: Kings vs Blues.
The Kings are in a similar position to the Panthers. They hold a three-point lead in the Pacific Division, but having dropped three of their last four, the Ducks and Sharks are both within striking distance. They are on game six of a seven-game road trip, on which they are 2-3-0. They came less than a minute away from defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers and escaped thanks to Kevin Klein’s hip and their incredible 3-on-3 prowess. Their other win was their 9-2 beatdown of the Bruins on Milan Lucic night.
St. Louis has been one of the toughest teams to score against this month. Since returning from the All-Star break, they are 5-1-1 with only 11 goals allowed in that seven-game stretch.
Los Angeles has been stifled in their last three defeats, being held to two goals or less. While he was not having all that overwhelming a season from a scoring standpoint, Marian Gaborik’s trip to the injured reserve list has certainly hurt the Kings’ offense. Gaborik is a key cog in the L.A. Possession Machine.
Anze Kopitar has 40 points in 35 career games against St. Louis, and 11 in his last nine overall.
Prediction: The over is 1-8-1 in the Blues’ last 10. With home ice, they will control the pace of play. Take St. Louis to win. Play the under.
Other Game Notes Around the NHL
Rangers vs Maple Leafs: The Blueshirts better hope that they come out of Toronto with a win tonight. The Rangers fell to the Blackhawks 5-3 last night after an impressive comeback effort was squandered. Heading out on the road makes rebounding after such a frustrating loss on the national stage a very tough task.
Fortunately, they will be taking on the Leafs.
Toronto is 1-4 in their last five, their lone win coming against the backsliding Canucks. James Reimer will be in net for Toronto tonight, who has seen his save percentage plummet. Reimer went from being towards the top in that category to just above league average now. He has allowed 26 goals in his last seven starts- almost four goals per game. Losing Dion Phaneuf from their blueline certainly hurts. Fielding an otherwise AHL-caliber lineup hurts as well.
Leo Komarov is back on another cold streak, scoring just once in his last six games.
Antti Raanta will get the start for the Rangers. Do not be deceived by the box score, Raanta played well in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Kings. It is not his fault that his defense and freak deflections hung him out to dry on multiple occasions.
Prediction: Take the Rangers to win at -140. Play the over.
Wild vs Oilers: The money line is even for the game tonight, mostly because the transition period is still being accounted for on the Minnesota sideline. Give it another week and this would be slanted much more in the Wild’s favor.
John Torchetti is now 2-0 behind the Wild’s bench. The top six has been rejuvenated. Since the coaching change, Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu both have three points, while Charlie Coyle has two goals. The Wild have scored on the powerplay in both of Torchetti’s games.
The Oilers are, well, the Oilers. They are 1-4-1 in their last six, their only win coming at home against the Maple Leafs. They have allowed 24 goals in that span.
Prediction: Capitalize on the even line. Take the Wild to sweep their three-game Western Canada trip. Play the under 5.5.
Capitals vs Islanders: The over is the most intriguing play here. The over/under is listed at 5.5, which has traditionally hit as the under in Caps-Isles. However, Braden Holtby has been solvable this month- he’s not losing all that much, but he’s been allowing more goals. The Isles will be starting Thomas Greiss, who has been solid filling in for Jaroslav Halak, but is now facing his toughest task yet.
Washington has won both meetings this season, scoring seven goals along the way.
Prediction: Take the Capitals to win. Play the over.
Hurricanes vs Senators: The over/under is listed at 5.5 because of the Senators’ propensity to get into high-scoring games lately. However, they are playing the Hurricanes today, one of the lower scoring teams in the league, especially on the road. Both teams are coming off of 2-1 wins. This game has stone-cold under written all over it.
Prediction: Take the Sens to win on home ice. Play the under.
Stars vs Coyotes: Another game that is screaming for a play on the under. While the Stars love to light the lamp, Arizona has been the team to stifle them. The under is 8-1-1 in their last 10 meetings in the desert.
While the home team has held the advantage typically between these two teams, the Yotes have had a lot of difficulty against teams with winning records. While they have won against the likes of Montreal and Calgary, they have lost in varying degrees of closeness to Los Angeles, Chicago, Anaheim and San Jose. They have allowed 20 goals in those four games, with two games being at home. While Dallas can light the lamp on any given night, they have been missing Jason Spezza on their roadtrip, and have been held at bay because of it.
Prediction: Take the Stars to win at -145. Play the under.
