NHL Hockey Best Bets for October 26, 2015
If you’re like most hockey fans you’re getting sick of the early season NHL schedule. It seems like every night is a ‘short card’ of action with a few games here and a few games here. As we’ve noted before it makes life difficult for hockey betting enthusiasts and fantasy NHL players. And it makes it less entertaining for the fans. The reason is valid–a less brutal pace early on will make sure that players are healthy later in the season. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the current schedule is tedious:
NHL HOCKEY BEST BETS FOR MONDAY:
With only three games on the schedule we’ll run through the entire card. The first game on the board is actually our ‘best bet’ for the day:
CALGARY FLAMES AT NEW YORK ISLANDERS–BEST BET:
Baseball legend Yogi Berra famously said: “Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.” The same thing can be said about the Calgary Flames (minus the baseball part). They’re off to a rough start but it’s hard to figure out why. The team is healthy, all of the key personnel is back from last year but things haven’t been working out so far. This is the second game of a three game road trip that started yesterday with a loss against the New York Rangers. The hope is that this road trip will build the ‘half mental’ component of the team but that hasn’t been the case so far.
The Islanders, meanwhile, have been playing very good hockey. They’re in third place in the competitive Metro Division, 1 point behind the Washington Capitals and two points behind the first place Rangers. They did get some bad news over the weekend, losing defenseman Thomas Hickey for an indeterminate amount of time due to what is being described as a ‘leg injury’. Still, the team has won five of their last six with wins over tough opponents like Nashville, San Jose and St. Louis.
And as any experienced sports bettor knows this setup is usually not a good one for the more successful team. The Islanders still aren’t completely comfortable in the new home at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The Islanders played in St. Louis on Saturday so it’s not a ‘back to back’ spot but still a quick turnaround situation. They’re facing a struggling Western Conference team that won’t provide much motivation. They’ve got a string of five straight conference games with three divisional opponents on deck. That’s a dangerous situation facing a desperate Calgary team that needs every win they can get. The Flames have had good success against the Islanders of late. Calgary has won 7 of the last 12 games on New York home ice and the teams have split the last four meetings with each winning a game on the road.
To top it all off, the price on this game is too high reflecting public perception of the Islanders success and the Flames’ struggles. We’ll take the Flames at a big underdog price.
BET CALGARY FLAMES +170 OVER NEW YORK ISLANDERS
ARIZONA COYOTES AT TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS:
Hard to figure out which Arizona Coyotes team will show up. They looked really good in a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators this weekend. It was a win they needed and broke a four game losing streak. Toronto is a ‘beatable’ team but they likely feel the same about Arizona–and at 1-4-2 are anxious for a win. Lean to Arizona.
BET ARIZONA COYOTES +120 OVER TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
ANAHEIM DUCKS AT CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS:
Strange as it is to say, the Ducks are a grease fire. Last season this would have been a great game and is a rematch of the Western Conference Finals. This year it might be a mismatch. Anaheim is 1-5-1 and aren’t scoring goals. They’ve scored six in seven games and that math doesn’t work no matter how well the defense is playing. Chicago has won five of their last seven and after prevailing in a physical series with Anaheim will relish the opportunity to kick their rivals when they’re down. Plus every win matters in the brutal Central Division where the Hawks’ 5-3-0 record has them in sixth place.
BET CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS -160 OVER ANAHEIM DUCKS