First, a couple of thoughts on the Sens/Leafs game tonight before looking at the games I’m most confident in. Don’t ask me who’s going to win because there’s too much up in the air at this point. If I had to guess, I would say that Jason Spezza misses another game tonight, but he could very well be in the lineup. On paper, the Sens are the better team, but the early momentum is on the side of Toronto.
The Sens need their Top 6 forwards to be much better than they were against Buffalo last night. If the Sens have to rely on the third and fourth lines to muster most of the offence in any given game, they won’t win. Now to the games of the day...
Philadelphia (+125) vs. St. Louis
A few things draw me into taking the underdog on the road. First of all, I think the Flyers are a better team on paper than the Blues. Secondly, the Flyers have had a game to work some of the kinks and jitters in starting the season while the Blues will be playing their opener. Third, I just wonder about the psyche of Jaroslav Halak.
He clearly had a lot of trouble handling the Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals because of their size and their willingness to create traffic and cause havoc in front of the net. The Flyers will clearly do this again tonight, so how will Halak handle this differently as a member of the Blues?
Detroit vs. Chicago u 5.5 (+105)
Even though it’s only the second game of the year for both teams, something tells me that this will be close to a playoff atmosphere. With the Hawks having a chance to raise the Stanley Cup banner, I think the Wings will look to take this opportunity to show the Hawks that they will be the team to beat this year.
With both teams wanting to impose their will on each other, both teams will be extra careful not to make any mistakes and we could see some jagged, yet physical play over the 60 minutes. Jimmy Howard is a very solid goaltender and you just have to hope for the sake of the bet that Marty Turco can be consistent enough not to make any major mistakes.
New York Rangers vs. Buffalo u 5.5 (-125)
No real need to explain this one. It’s all about the goaltenders on this pick. It’s just hard to bet against a combination of Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller in goal. Even if the Sabres decide to give Miller the night off, Lalime is a competent backup and he’ll face a Rangers team that struggles to score goals at times.
The game I’m most interested in happens in Vancouver as the Canucks take on the Los Angeles Kings. Both teams are looking to take the next step in their franchise development into a Stanley Cup contender. The difference being that the Kings might be still a couple years away, but the Canucks are there now. How does this team start a season in which they’re expected to battle for the Cup?