NHL Hockey Best Bets for February 20, 2015
Best bets for Saturday night hockey action:
WINNIPEG JETS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS:
You’ve got to give the Florida Panthers a lot of credit. Most hockey pundits suggested that they’d roll over and collapse following the end of their ten game winning streak. That hasn’t happened and they’ve managed to hold on to first place in the Atlantic Division despite a slew of injuries. The most significant injury has been to goaltender Roberto Luongo but he’s expected back for tonight’s game. In his place, Al Montoya has been steady if not spectacular. Luongo will see his first action in a week and he’s arguably been the team’s MVP this season. In any case, he’s been very good and back in the form expected of him when he came over from Vancouver.
Winnipeg will play without top goal scorer Brian Little who is listed as ‘day to day’ with a neck injury. The Jets will send backup goaltender Mike Hutchinson to the net and he’ll no doubt be happy to get some action after spending the season behind Ondrej Pavelec and Conner Hellebyuck. The mood in Winnipeg is ugly but for now they’re not blaming head coach Paul Maurice–they’re blaming the players who aren’t ‘buying in’ to what Maurice is preaching. Tough spot for them here.
BET FLORIDA PANTHERS -115 OVER WINNIPEG JETS
NEW JERSEY DEVILS AT WASHINGTON CAPITALS:
It sure is hard to bet against the Washington Capitals as they run roughshod over the Eastern Conference. There’s at least a few things to like about the New Jersey Devils here. The Devils lost a tough one on Friday night falling 1-0 to the New York Islanders but despite their struggles scoring goals 5 on 5 (NHL worst 2.17 per game) New Jersey has the best team defense in the NHL. They’ve also got a top ten penalty kill and power play. Washington is 7-2-1 in their last ten games and have made a mockery of the divisional and conference races–they lead the second best team in their division by 16 points and lead the Atlantic Division leading Florida Panthers by 15 points.
The Devils are 1 point out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference and get an opportunity here thanks to Pittsburgh’s loss to Tampa Bay earlier on Saturday. Cory Schneider gets the start for Washington tonight against Braden Holtby. Hard to step in front of the Capitals’ freight train but also hard to pass up getting the #1 statistical defense in hockey as a +240 underdog.
BET NEW JERSEY DEVILS +240 OVER WASHINGTON CAPITALS