New Jersey Devils @ New York Rangers – RANGERS TO WIN (-125)
(Note: I’m risking 1.25 units to win 1 unit)

New York won Game 1 3-0 which included an empty net goal as they outshot the Devils 28-21.  New Jersey out played New York for a good part of the game, but failed to get shots through to Henrik Lundqvist.  Lundqvist continues to be exceptional during these playoffs, as the win moved him to 9-6-2 with a 1.57 GAA and .940 SV%.  Martin Brodeur’s numbers have been good, but not quite close to Lundqvist.  He is 8-4-1 with a 2.05 GAA and .921 SV%.  During the regular season Brodeur had a 2.41 GAA and .908 SV%, compared to Henrik with a 1.97 GAA and .930 SV%.   The Game 1 win at home makes the Rangers 33-14-3 on the season at home.  They have been beaten 3 times at home during these playoffs, but from what I saw in the first game of this series it lokos like it will be hard for New Jersey to get much going offensively and I don’t think the Devils can put up the 2 or 3 goals I think they would need to win tonight in New York.  Take note that New Jersey is just 1-4 in their last 5 meetings in New York.   Also note that New Jersey is a few points better on the powerplay during these playoffs than the Rangers, but the Devils are killing just 74% of their penalties (compared to the Rangers at 84%).  In Game 1 the Rangers went 1 for 4 on the powerplay, while they held the Devils to 0 for 4.  The Rangers have held their opponents to 26 shots or fewer in their last 5 games and if the Devils don’t manage to get more shots on net they will probably have a tough time finding a way to beat the Rangers.  I like New York here in Game 2.

Tonight we see Game 1 of the other Conference Finals series between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.  I have no series play going here, but I do have a play for tonight’s game…

New Jersey Devils @ New York Rangers – OVER 4.5 GOALS (-130)
(Note: I’m risking 1.30 units to win 1.00 units)

These two teams have met 6 times already this season and they don’t like each other at all – it should be a great series.  The totals of the 6 meetings from most recent to the first were: 6, 5, 2, 1, 7, and 5.  As you can see 4 of the 6 games got over tonight’s posted total of 4.5.  Although the Rangers have been playing the UNDER all playoffs long I think the Devils will set the pace tonight.  New Jersey has scored  3 or more goals in 7 straight games and all but 2 of their 12 postseason games thus far.  Although the Rangers have either “pushed” or went under the total in all but 1 game in these playoffs they have had a number of games with 5 goals. 7 of their 14 games have had 5 or more goals and therefore would have cashed OVER 4.5 wagers.  Tonight I see the Devils setting the pace and I expect it to be more of an offensive game than a defensive game.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see this game at 2-2 at one point and cashing our OVER wager tonight.

Washington Capitals @ New York Rangers – CAPITALS TO WIN (+133)
(Note: I’m risking 1 unit to win 1.33 units)

I highly recommend you shop around for a line at +130 or better, because I’ve seen some sportsbooks offering as low as +120 on the Capitals tonight.  I got this line at www.5Dimes.com. Tonight’s Game 7 will end a fantastic series, where we have see only one game not decided by a single goal (that was Game 1 where the Rangers won 3-1).  No team has won two games in a row, with each team going 2-1 at home so far in the series.  In Game 5 the Capitals looked like they were going to head home with a chance to close out the series, but a double minor high sticking penalty allowed the Rangers to tie it up with about 6 seconds left, and then score a powerplay goal in the first two minutes of the first OT.  Both Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist have been stellar, and have both given their teams the opportunities to win every game in this series.  LIke this entire series has been this game is pretty much a toss up, where I am sure it will be a tight and probably 1-goal game either way.  Getting the Capitals at +133 provides us with some value, as at best the Caps should be priced slightly better than a pick’em.  Take the Capitals at +130 or better as we see Washington move on to the Eastern Conference finals.

Anyways we have the same play going in the Rangers/Capitals series as we did the other day…

New York Rangers @ Washington Capitals – UNDER 5 GOALS (-145)
(Note: I’m risking 1.45 units to win 1.00 units)

Good Luck

One play tonight…

New Jersey Devils @ Philadelphia Flyers – OVER 5.5 GOALS (+140)
(Note: I’m risking 1 unit to win 1.40 units)

Tonight we see a Game 5 between the Flyers and the Devils in Philadelphia as the Flyers look to stay alive.  I am continuing to play the OVER in this series again tonight even with Giroux out.  With the way this series has gone I think +140 is a great price on the OVER again tonight.  We’ve seen totals of 7, 5, 7, and 6 so far this series.  In Sunday’s game we needed an empty net goal to hit the OVER, but there were a ton of scoring chances throughout the game.  Take the OVER again.

We had a 3 UNIT play on the Devils to win, and 1 unit play on the OVER 5.5 at a nice +135 price tag.  The Devils won 4-2 with an empty net goal giving us a 2-0 night for +4.35 units.

Tonight we see two more games on the NHL board, and I do have one play going in the Capitals/Rangers game.  The other game is Nashville in Phoenix, and we are hoping that Nashville can make it 3-2 and head back to Nashville to continue the series.

Washington Capitals @ New York Rangers – UNDER 5 GOALS (-147)
(Note: I’m risking 1.47 units to win 1 unit)

This series heads back to New York tied 2-2 and tonight is a huge game for both teams.  So far they have split games in New York and in Washington.  We’ve seen scores of 3-1, 3-2, 2-1, and 3-2.  These games have been low scoring games, and not many shots on net are allowed by either team (even the triple overtime game saw both teams stay under 50 shots on net).  We’ve seen the UNDER go 2-0-2 with the two pushes at 5.  In 11 games this postseason the Rangers have only gone over the posted total one time, and that was way back in Game 1 of the first series.  The UNDER is 6-3-2 for the Capitals in these playoffs.  With Holtby and Lundqvist looking solid between the pipes and not a lot of shots getting through on either side I think it will be very tough for one of these games to get over the 5 goal total.  Laying some chalk I still think we have value on the UNDER tonight.  Take it for a unit.

We nailed our 3 STAR pick on the Kings at a very generous -114 price, and also hit the OVER again between Philadelphia and New Jersey at a nice +130 price.

+4.30 units on the day, and what a roll we’ve been on over the past couple months.

Tonight there is one NHL game on the board between the Coyotes and the Predators. We have our 5 UNIT series play on the Predators pending so I am not going to make a play on this game tonight. We can simply sit back and cheer for the Predators to tie the series back up at 2-2. If you haven’t yet got your Nashville series play in today would be a good chance at +135.

I have a 3 unit play going tonight for clients only (check your emails!), and a 1 unit play listed below in the Flyers and Devils Game 3.

3 UNIT PICK = CLIENTS ONLY

1 UNIT PICK = Philadelphia Flyers @ New Jersey Devils – OVER 5.5 GOALS (+130)
(Note: I’m risking 1.00 units to win 1.30 units)

We’ve profited with this same plays going 1-1 on the series, but Game 1 being a 5 Star pick. Heading back to New Jersey I still like the value on the OVER getting it at +130. These two teams combined for 62 shots in Game 1, and 55 shots in Game 2. This year the Flyers average 3.07 goals per game on the road and 2.70 against. The Devils are averaging 2.75 goals per game at home and 2.45 against. The OVER is 10-4-1 in the Flyers last 15 games overall, and 4-1-1 in their last 6 road games. Both goalies have had their good starts, but overall haven’t done anything special in these playoffs. Bryzgalov has allowed 3 or more goals against in 7 of his last 8 starts, while Brodeur has allowed 19 goals against over 9 games this postseason (2.11 GAA). Take note Ilya Kovalchuk will be back in the lineup tonight which should help the Devils offensively. With the way the first two of these games have gone and the way the Flyers have played all season I like the value on the OVER here again tonight.

It didn’t look good for most of the game until the Devils scored 4 in the third period to make it very interesting.  Simmonds had a great chance for the Flyers with over a minute to go to put the game over the total but failed to take advantage.

We move on to Wednesday where we have two games – Rangers/Capitals and Coyotes/Predators.  With our 5 Star series bet on Nashville pending we are going to sit back and watch that game, but I do have a play going in the Rangers/Capitals game.

New York Rangers @ Washington Capitals – RANGERS TO WIN (-102)
(Note: I’m risking 1.02 units to win 1 unit)

I want to send this out ASAP so no write up here, but note that the Caps were 1-2 at home in the first round while the Rangers were 2-1 on the road.  No real big home ice advantage tonight and I think the better team wins tonight.  This game starts at 7:30 PM EST.

We had the OVER 5.5 in the Devils/Flyers game at a very generous +133 and saw a 4-3 final score for +6.65 units in profit!

We have our pending 5 Star pick on Nashville to win the series which took another hit last night as they fall 2-0, but heading back home I am pretty confident we can see them tie things up at 2.

Tonight we have two games on the board and I have two plays going…

Washington Capitals @ New York Rangers – RANGERS TO WIN (-150)
(Note: I’m risking 1.50 units to win 1 unit)

The Rangers took Game 1 3-1 and I like them to go up 2-0 heading to Washington.  The Rangers are 30-13-3 at home this season, while the Capitals are just 19-22-5 on the road.  The Capitals took 3 games in Boston, but stole those with better goaltending.  Lundqvist has been solid and I don’t expect Holtby to be able to outplay him in New York.  Note that the Rangers are 30-14 in their last 44 home games, and 39-19 in their last 58 games as a favorite.  Tonight I’ll take the better team laying some chalk at home.

Los Angeles Kings @ St Louis Blues – UNDER 4.5 GOALS (+110)
(Note: I’m risking 1 unit to win 1.10 units)

In Game 1 we had the Kings to win and they got it done with a 3-1 win.  The 4th goal was an empty net goal, so as expected goals were hard to come by in the first game between these two teams.  The Kings are averaging just 2.31 goals per game this season, while allowing only 2.03 against.  The Blues are averaging a bit higher 2.51 goals per game but just 1.89 against.  That 1.89 against gets even better for the Blues at home as they are allowing just 1.69 goals against per game at home.  In their 5 meetings this season we’ve seen totals of 4, 1, 1, 5, and 5.  The UNDER is 28-13-11 in the Kings last 52 road games, and 4-0 in their last 4 overall.  The UNDER is 42-16-19 in the Blues last 77 overall, and 27-13-12 in their last 52 home games.  The UNDER is 7-0-1 in these two teams last 8 meetings overall.  With what I think is the first 4.5 total of the season we are going to take the UNDER at a good +110 price.