NHL Hockey Best Bets for October 30, 2015
Busy night of hockey on tap for Friday with nine games on the board. Here are our best bets:
COLORADO AVALANCHE AT CAROLINA HURRICANES:
Both teams playing in the second of back to back games. Carolina is off an overtime win at the NY Islanders while Colorado off a win at Tampa Bay. Semyon Varlamov looked great in the win at Tampa while Eddie Lack was between the pipes for the ‘Canes. Varlamov will be back in net tonight for the Avs while Cam Ward will likely get the start for Carolina. Regardless, look for more Eddie Lack as the season progresses. He was brought in as an ‘insurance policy’ against Ward’s infamous streakiness but even if Ward is going good the hope is that he’ll benefit from a few more nights off. Carolina is playing their first game home after a seven game road trip that went pretty well with four wins. Still, the first game home after a road trip is a tough situation in any sport. Colorado’s record may not indicate it yet but they’re the better team in this matchup. We love to play West against the East and we’ll take the Central Division as an underdog against anyone.
BET COLORADO AVALANCHE +115 OVER CAROLINA HURRICANES
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS AT WASHINGTON CAPITALS:
Capitals have been red hot but coming off a clunker against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Coach Barry Trotz is planning to shake up the lineup for this game which might not be a wise move considering that the Caps won five straight and six of seven before the loss to Pittsburgh. Looks like a situation of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ to us. Columbus has won two straight under new head coach John Tortorela. The mood in the room is different and the team is starting to develop confidence. Jackets will get Ryan Johansen back in the lineup tonight but will be without Brandon Saad who is back in Columbus with an unspecified illness. Columbus a much better team than they’ve shown so far while the Caps may have overachieved somewhat. We’ll take the price on the road team.
BET COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS +170 OVER WASHINGTON CAPITALS
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS AT BUFFALO SABRES:
The Sabres have been in the news a lot in the past 24 hours but not for hockey. A video is making the rounds of a Buffalo coach throwing a puck to a chubby little kid only to have some miserable old man grab it out of midair and act like he just scored an overtime winner. But since hockey is a sport full of class individuals, justice would eventually prevail–the Penguins hustled up a couple of pucks *and* a Sidney Crosby jersey and hooked the kid up.
Jack Eichel might have started his NHL career better than Connor McDavid but since we’ve learned that the Oilers #97 is indeed ‘The One’ he’s been pretty quiet. Don’t worry about that–Eichel is still a damn good player and this Sabres team is starting to put things together. They put 53 shots on goal (and 84 attempts including wide and blocked shots) last night against Pittsburgh but caught a hot goalie (former Miami University star Jeff Zatkoff). If they do the same thing tonight against Michal Neuvirth they’ve got a good shot of winning. Neuvirth has put up good numbers so far but we’re not sold.
BET BUFFALO SABRES +115 OVER PHILADELPHIA FLYERS