NHL Hockey Best Bets for January 12, 2016
Eight games on Tuesday’s NHL hockey betting card. Our two ‘best bets’ are in late action:
EDMONTON OILERS AT ARIZONA COYOTES:
While all of the NHL media attention has been focused on the Florida Panthers and their recently ended twelve game winning streak there’s been another franchise resurrection going on out West. In years past, the Arizona Coyotes have been in the news primarily for their horrible arena situation. Depending on who you talk to, the Coyotes should be in Seattle, Quebec City or Hamilton. The attendance figures are still pretty weak–the Coyotes are #28 in the NHL playing to 78% of capacity–but now the play of the team certainly isn’t the issue. The team has been playing great hockey of late–the Coyotes have won 7 of 10 and have taken points in five straight. More significantly, they put up a strong effort every night. With a ton of young talent including Anthony Duclar, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Max Domi and ‘elder statesman’ Shane Doan this is a team with a ton of potential. Like the sports fans of Miami, the Phoenix community should be ashamed of the tepid support they’re giving the Coyotes. The Los Angeles Kings are running away with the Pacific Division but the Coyotes hold down second place, though they’re eleven points back of the Kings.
Edmonton is in their usual spot in the standings–last place–but this year’s its different. The fans and the NHL have seen a glimpse of ‘what could be’ in years to come due to the arrival of the next ‘generational player’ Connor McDavid. McDavid is still recovering from the fractured clavacle suffered in early November and the hope is he’ll be ready to return after the All Star Break. They’ve had other injuries–including McDavid’s early season linemate Nail Yakupov who is expected back as soon as Thursday–but McDavid is obviously the biggest. And for good reason–after a slow start to the season (and the usual talk that he is a ‘bust’) McDavid exploded against the Calgary Flames on October 17 scoring two goals and adding an assist, in the process showing ungodly, next level skill. The haters have all shut up as its evident that McDavid has the complete package to be as good as advertised.
Now the bad news–the Edmonton defense is still awful, the goaltending is erratic and it’s doubtful that it can be fixed until the offseason. But there’s hope in Edmonton and for good reason. While McDavid has been out another potent line has emerged featuring Leon Draisitl, Taylor Hall and Teddy Purcell. If everyone stays healthy it’s not an overstatement to say that the Oilers will immediately have one of the most potent attacks in the NHL upon McDavid’s return. But until then, however, they’re a bad defensive team that doesn’t have the weapons on their second and third lines to trade goals with a high scoring Coyotes team. This would be an incredibly fun game were McDavid et.al. in the lineup but without them it looks like an easy Coyotes win.
BET ARIZONA COYOTES -150 OVER EDMONTON OILERS
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING AT COLORADO AVALANCHE:
This is a simple handicap–the Lightning don’t deserve to be favored here. Tampa Bay is one of the biggest disappointments in the NHL this season despite winning two straight by identical 3-2 scores. Overall, they’re 5-5 in their last ten games and 11-9-2 on the road. Colorado doesn’t have amazing numbers–5-3-2 last 10 and 9-9-3 at home. That needs to be put into context–they play in the brutal Central Division where there *are* no ‘easy opponents’. The Avs are the #4 goal per game team in the league averaging 2.91 goals per game. The Lightning have shown marginal improvement but they don’t deserve to be favorite.
BET COLORADO AVALANCHE +115 OVER TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING