BLUE JACKETS (+100) at PENGUINS (-120), 7 p.m.
Pick: Penguins To Win (-120)
The struggling Blue Jackets (37-26-3) are headed to Pittsburgh to take on the streaking F Sidney Crosby and his Penguins (35-22-9). Crosby has been on a heater recently, scoring multiple points in each of his last five games. He is single-handedly carrying this team on his back into the postseason and fans aren’t really complaining. F Phil Kessel has been struggling as of late, but Crosby is really picking up his slack. F Jake Guentzel is also sneakily playing some amazing hockey as well.
The Blue Jackets need to win this game just as badly as the Pens do. They’ve been struggling even with their recent additions at the deadline. Team chemistry is so important and they haven’t really found their way yet. They barely snuffed out the last-place Devils on Tuesday, taking it all the way to a shootout. They were out-shot and out-played by a team that is littered with injuries. Not a good look for Columbus. Yes, they typically play better on the road (20-10-1), but Crosby is on a mission and there’s jut no stopping him.
ISLANDERS (-220) at SENATORS (+180), 7:30 p.m.
Pick: Islanders To Win (-220)
The Islanders (38-21-7) and the Senators (23-38-6) are on the back end of a Tuesday/Thursday home-and-home. New York took the first match-up in a shootout, 5-4. No one expected the Sens to play as well as they did in that game but they really surprised the Islanders. We think New York will be ready here though and not let the game get to such an uncomfortable point for them.
Ottawa is an disaster once again. They shipped out all of their top-tier talent and are icing a team of their prospects essentially. This isn’t their year and betting on them is just too risky in our opinion, even with their most recent performance in the books. Take the Isles, it’s just a heck of a lot safer.
RANGERS (-105) at RED WINGS (-115), 7:30 p.m.
Pick: Over 5.5
The Rangers (27-28-11) and the Red Wings (23-33-10) are both struggling, both second to last place in their respective divisions, both on losing streaks (0-6-2 for Detroit and 0-2-3 for New York). The good news is that one of them will break this awful string of bad luck, but the question is who? If it were possible for both to lose, these are the teams that could do it.
It’s for that reason that we are going to go with the Over. These two teams are probably so angry and so eager to get back in the winning column that they are going to come out against each other looking for blood, and filling the back of the net while they do it. Pity the net-minders here.