The NHL offers up its usual large assortment of games on a Thursday night and today's theme will be about value. Actually, a lot of times, the theme is going to be about value. It's not always about choosing who you feel is going to win. Let me explain if you're scratching your head.
Very often, it's about finding a team that has a good chance to win and pays well at the same time. You should think about it the same way you would choose a horse at the track or pick a stock on the TSE. In both cases, you want to find a proven winner, but that winner also has to pay enough money to you to justify risking yourself for the payout.
Phoenix Coyotes vs. Detroit Red Wings (-1.5, +170)
Nothing is going right lately for Phoenix after starting their 2010 campaign in Prague. It's clear that the travel to Europe, followed by the travel back to the West Coast, then the travel for a road trip on the East Coast, has caught up to them. They looked slow and sluggish in a 5-2 loss to Ottawa on Tuesday and are looking to avoid losing their fourth in a row.
Unfortunately, they take on the Detroit Red Wings as they've started off the season at 5-1-1. The stats for this series are completely one-sided in favour of the Wings over the last 4 years. In their last 17 meetings, Detroit leads the series 14-1-2 with a home record of 7-0-1. The problem is that you get no value for them to win straight up, but you can just about triple your money to bet on them winning by 2 goals or more. We'll take the risk.
Washington Capitals (-1.5, +250) vs. Minnesota Wild
If you were just looking at this game on paper, who would you favour? 100 out of 100 would have said the Washington Capitals despite the fact that they're on the road. The Caps are coming off a shutout last night in Carolina and the Wild are looking to avoid losing their third in a row. Everything points to a Caps win, but the value for a single goal victory is not enough. But if you choose them to win by 2 goals or more, you can more than triple your money.
Los Angeles Kings (+115) vs. Dallas Stars
Again, I like the value here for a team that was considered a threat to win the Western Conference vs. a team that was supposed to be near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The Stars got off to a nice start at 5-1, but have come back down to earth a little by dropping two in a row.
Meanwhile, the Kings have quietly got off to a 6-3 start and Jonathan Quick is playing so well in goal for L.A. compiling a 5-1 record and a 1.95 GAA. I may have been tempted to make it a trifecta and take the Kings by 2 or more, but it's not offered where I'm looking. I still like the value though for the single goal victory.