We won again on Saturday with the Preds/Jets going under the number to run our Best Bet record to 7-1 over our last 8 plays.
The Blues also won in our only other play Saturday.
Hopefully, the good run continues tonight on a relatively light night in the NHL for a Tuesday.
We breakdown today’s Best Bet in the Panthers/Habs tilt as well as two other opinions for tonight’s games.
Odds below are at the time we made the pick.
Good luck today!
Just 10 days ago, we successfully backed the Panthers +0.5 in regulation in San Jose, noting what a scrappy road underdog they’d been. But how things have changed since. Since that 4-2 win in San Jose and a 4-3 victory in LA two nights later, Florida has gone into the tank, losing four of its last five. Or maybe the tank is simply empty.
We’re not sure what Panthers management did to piss off the NHL schedulemaker, but the calendar over the last month has not been kind to the Cats at all. Tonight will be the fifth time in the past four weeks that the Panthers have played on 0 days rest, and they’ve only had more than one day off between games just once — a three-day break to catch their breath from March 10-14. Now that Florida has fallen out of realistic playoff contention, we’re not sure how the Panthers summon the energy to play their 7th in 11 tonight, especially after giving up seven goals in each of their last two outings.
Following a 1-4 skid earlier this month during which they scored just seven non-empty net goals, the Canadiens have gotten back on track with a 3-0-1 spurt in their last four. They’ve easily handled Buffalo and the Islanders in their last two home dates, outscoring their visitors 11-4. And when Montreal’s been winning games lately, it’s been by margin. Eight of their last nine victories have come by at least one goal, and their 2-1 loss in Carolina Sunday was the first OT game they’ve played since Feb. 9.
There’s not a ton of value here in the price, but given the fatigue and motivational situations involving these squads tonight, we’ll pull the trigger anyway. (Alternative ways to play this are the Canadiens -1 -111 or -1.5 +144, both lines that were available at Pinnacle.)
Other thoughts and opinions:
- Hurricanes at Capitals: Neither of these teams are allowing many goals at the moment. The Canes have allowed 2 or less in 6 of their last 7 (excluding empty netters) and gone 4-2-1 to the Under during that stretch, while the only times the Caps have given up more than three goals in their last 10 games was against the Lightning and Penguins. With both teams in fatigue situations (most notably Carolina, playing its seventh in 12 here), we see potential for another low-scoring affair here. If the Under 6.5 becomes available at -115 or better (it’s currently -127 at Pinnacle), we may get involved.
- Islanders at Blue Jackets: If Islanders +140 seems too good to be true, don’t look past how much hockey the Isles have been playing lately. This is a 3rd in 4, 4th in 6 and 7th in 11 spot for New York, which has struggled to score goals of late already (2 or less in 9 straight, excluding empty netters). Columbus had been fade material on the road until Sunday’s 5-0 win in Vancouver, but the Jackets have been much better at home of late, beating Pittsburgh, Carolina and Boston by a combined score of 14-5 in their last three games in Ohio. Slight lean to the Jackets on the moneyline, but we’re not playing it at the current number.
Bet this game at Pinnacle – The best NHL odds online!
Good luck!