Rink Rat has hit his last 3 Saturday Night Specials in a row !
BookieKiller.com currently sits at over 45 UNITS WON in the NHL and is NUMBER 1 overall in ALL SPORTS COMBINED, all documented at the Bigguy.com Sports Monitor.
Here is the Rats Saturday Night Special !!!
Saturday Night Special
by Bookiekiller.com's NHL Guru, Rink Rat
Versus opponent
First meeting of season
Last year:
W 6-4 @ Calgary
Today we visit the NHL's dark regions of despair. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that jazz. These two teams are frantically desperate but not entirely for the same reasons.
The Calgary Flames have missed the playoffs six years running and are on financial thin ice. Wins are important. Too bad there haven't been very many this season. The coach was axed and geriatric Al MacNeil is behind the bench. Maybe no-one else wants the job. Whatever, the coaching change did give the anticipated bounce and the Flames won then tied in Vancouver. The team is on a leisurely five game road trip and the Penguin game is number four. They are 1-1-1 so far, not bad all considered. Calgary doesn't score goals on the road (2.18 goals for) and gives up a few too many - their goals against is 12th in the conference. Their power play has anemia but the return of Jerome Iginla might provide a spark. Penalty killing is average but their odd-man differential is a poor -9. The goaltending isn't so hot either with the Turek - McLennan tandem propping up a .898 save percentage. Calgary isn't shy about taking penalties, having been shorthanded 83 times on the road.
Pittsburgh Penguins are desperate for other reasons - ten of them to be precise. The Penguins have lost ten in a row. Hard to believe but there it is. This team has fallen through the floor in the Eastern Conference and will be hard pressed to make the post-season. They do have that wondrous power play, however. They are first in the NHL there. The penalty killing is strong too - 3rd in the East. Even strength they don't get much done, their goals for/against are 23-30 at home. Aleksey Morozov and Dick Tarnstrom are out for this one and their absence could slow the power play but won't kill it. Pardon the pun. If the Flames play an undisciplined game this one could be over early. Their penalty killing is not strong enough to withstand the onslaught of Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev. In any case, Calgary is slightly weaker than Pittsburgh in all the significant categories and that will prove their undoing. Eight of Pittsburgh's next nine games, starting with Calgary, are against teams currently out of play-off positions. As bad as this past 10 games has been, if they get their act together now they could salvage something by the end of the year.
All streaks come to an end and mercifully Pittsburgh's will this Saturday against the Flames.
Take the PENS on the Puck Line !!!
BookieKiller.com currently sits at over 45 UNITS WON in the NHL and is NUMBER 1 overall in ALL SPORTS COMBINED, all documented at the Bigguy.com Sports Monitor.
Here is the Rats Saturday Night Special !!!
Saturday Night Special
by Bookiekiller.com's NHL Guru, Rink Rat
Versus opponent
First meeting of season
Last year:
W 6-4 @ Calgary
Today we visit the NHL's dark regions of despair. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that jazz. These two teams are frantically desperate but not entirely for the same reasons.
The Calgary Flames have missed the playoffs six years running and are on financial thin ice. Wins are important. Too bad there haven't been very many this season. The coach was axed and geriatric Al MacNeil is behind the bench. Maybe no-one else wants the job. Whatever, the coaching change did give the anticipated bounce and the Flames won then tied in Vancouver. The team is on a leisurely five game road trip and the Penguin game is number four. They are 1-1-1 so far, not bad all considered. Calgary doesn't score goals on the road (2.18 goals for) and gives up a few too many - their goals against is 12th in the conference. Their power play has anemia but the return of Jerome Iginla might provide a spark. Penalty killing is average but their odd-man differential is a poor -9. The goaltending isn't so hot either with the Turek - McLennan tandem propping up a .898 save percentage. Calgary isn't shy about taking penalties, having been shorthanded 83 times on the road.
Pittsburgh Penguins are desperate for other reasons - ten of them to be precise. The Penguins have lost ten in a row. Hard to believe but there it is. This team has fallen through the floor in the Eastern Conference and will be hard pressed to make the post-season. They do have that wondrous power play, however. They are first in the NHL there. The penalty killing is strong too - 3rd in the East. Even strength they don't get much done, their goals for/against are 23-30 at home. Aleksey Morozov and Dick Tarnstrom are out for this one and their absence could slow the power play but won't kill it. Pardon the pun. If the Flames play an undisciplined game this one could be over early. Their penalty killing is not strong enough to withstand the onslaught of Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev. In any case, Calgary is slightly weaker than Pittsburgh in all the significant categories and that will prove their undoing. Eight of Pittsburgh's next nine games, starting with Calgary, are against teams currently out of play-off positions. As bad as this past 10 games has been, if they get their act together now they could salvage something by the end of the year.
All streaks come to an end and mercifully Pittsburgh's will this Saturday against the Flames.
Take the PENS on the Puck Line !!!
