NHL Picks – Oct. 21, 2017

Another winning week!  3-2 last week, 7-3 so far on the season!  Man, Thursday night I got a little giddy about all four sports going that night and so I decided to bet on hockey, football and basketball.  Cleaned up!  Six bets placed (I could cry that I only laid 10 bucks a game…I have no balls), and the picks went five for six.  Having said that, I don’t love these picks.  Not as many games tonight, so the selection to begin with were slim, but I did struggle to find five bets. So it’ll be that I’m scorching hot right now vs picks I’m not thrilled about.

Nashville at NY Rangers

Preds -115

Last night, I got this game as the Preds being even money, which meant the Rangers were the favourites.  But at -115 it’s still a decent pay off.  The Rangers are shot, they’re done.  This isn’t an early season slump where they’re about to come out of it.  They’re one of the worst teams in the league down the middle, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the Derek Stepan trade.  That blueline is solid, but it’s not nearly good enough to overcome what they don’t have down the middle, and what they no longer have between the pipes.  They’ve pushed hard this week.  Took the Pens to OT, took the Isles to a shootout, but they just aren’t good.  And the Preds are hot, having gone 4-0-1 after an 0-2-0 start.  Nashville are the underdogs here!?  This is one of the best teams in the league against one of the worst!  I’ll gladly take the Preds.

Toronto at Ottawa

Sens +105

Man I hate picking against the Leafs, because if I’m wrong then there fans who are good enough people to read my stuff (hi Chris) won’t let me forget it.  And they’re red hot right now.  But the Sens are in the middle of a five game home stand right now, and they’re 0-1-1 so far.  And the Leafs have to cool down at some point, don’t they?!?  So basically I just believe that this is going to be a much bigger game for the Sens then it is for the Leafs.  Add to that, I just believe the Sens matchup well with the Leafs.  They’ve got nice depth up front too, Karlsson is back, and when Craig Anderson is on his game he is a better goaltender then his brother Frederik Andersen.  Haaaaa….jokes.  Take the Sens.

Toronto at Ottawa

Over 6 (-125)

Obviously won’t talk much more about this game since I just did, but it simply comes down to taking the over when we’re talking about the Leafs.  9, 13, 7, 9, 7, 2, 9.  Those are the goal totals from there games so far this season.  Over.  Every.  Single.  Time.  I concede, this is the first time this season that the Leafs are playing a team with a good rep defensively (although the Devils lit them up for five on Thursday night).  But until they start giving us a reason not to, take the over when the Leafs are playing.

Florida at Washington

Panthers +125

As I said off the top, I don’t LOVE some of these picks and this is one of them.  But I feel like it’s a value pick.  Both teams played in different cities last night, so no advantage there.  But in that, both backups are in, and I’ll take James Reimer over Phillip Grubauer.  I also like that the Panthers are on a three game slide, so they should be the more desperate team tonight.  Add those two things to the fact that they’re the underdog in this one, I like putting a little juice on the Panthers in this one.

Chicago at Arizona

Blackhawks -1.5 (+175)

I fear this one could get ugly for the Coyotes.  They’re playing hard of late, but this matchup is just all wrong for them.  They’re building their team in the mold of the Blackhawks, but the Hawks are already that team.  Can you trust Louis Domingue to hold the fort in goal?  And since the Hawks started Anton Forsberg on Thursday, Corey Crawford is back in goal tonight.  It’s just all wrong for the Coyotes who I thought would be pretty decent out of the gates and instead they’ve just completely fallen on their faces.

Follow me on Twitter @TJ_Soups