Ice picks: Today's best NHL bets
Ottawa Senators at Washington Capitals (-215, 5.5)
The Ottawa Senators look like they have used up all their goals for the next few weeks following a 6-4 win over the Islanders on Thursday.
That victory is Ottawa’s only bright spot in an eight-game stretch that has seen the underachieving team go 1-7. In those seven losses, the Senators have scored a total of nine goals, including getting shutout twice. Overall, the Senators are helping goal judges work on their beauty sleep, averaging 2.2 goals per game – the 29th worst mark in the league. But you have to shoot to score, and the team averages just 28.9 attempts at the cage per night, the game’s 24th worst total.
"They're just mental mistakes," Ottawa coach Cory Clouston said. "And we're so fragile right now that we don't have that resiliency that you need in this league, because you are going to make mistakes. It just seems that when we make them, the resiliency isn't there that we need."
Meantime, the Captials also have struggled to find their scoring touch, seeing the under go 7-2-1 in their past seven games overall.
This game won’t be pretty to watch, but the under should be pretty to your bank roll.
Pick: Under
Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers (-115, 5.5)
The hottest line in the NHL isn’t in Vancouver, Washington, Colorado or Detroit.
The top combination in the league is located on Broad Street. Daniel Briere, Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino have combined for a staggering 17 goal and 16 assists in the team’s past nine games. And the group is showing an uncanny connection on the ice. In a 5-2 win over Atlanta, the trio combined for the game-winner late in the third when Hartnell’s shot was tipped by Leino to a wide open Briere who banged home the goal into an empty net due to the fantastic puck movement.
"Scotty just tried to put it on net, and both me and Ville kind of snuck behind their defenseman," said Briere. "It was a nice redirection by Ville, backdoor to me. He knew I was waiting there."
The group will look to continue its hot play against the Rangers, a team it has owned this year to the tune of a pair of 4-1 wins. Don’t expect them to cool off now.
Pick: Flyers
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