Sports Betting Overview
The Washington Capitals and the Florida Panthers are the two best teams in what is turning out to be the worst division in hockey. The Capitals are in first place in the Southeast Division but would not have enough points to be in the playoff hunt if it was not a division leader. The Florida Panthers have the same amount of points as Washington, sit in second place in the division but are still out of the running for a playoff spot. The Capitals will take the first place status in the division, but this is hardly the dominating team that fans have been seeing for the past few years. This battle for the division lead could be where the Caps start to separate itself from the rest of the division.

Sports fans in Florida are probably doing a lot of Superbowl betting but very little hockey betting. Both Florida teams, the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, are playing poor hockey and neither Florida team looks to be making a move towards the playoffs. The Panthers were riding the great play of goaltender Jose Theodore early in the season, but there is only so much that Theodore can do without a defense in front of him. The luckiest thing for the Panthers is that it plays in the worst division in hockey. That alone gives the Panthers hope for a playoff berth in April.

Washington Capitals
The Capitals do not seem to have any problems scoring goals, but the team is not getting the kind of play it expected to get from its goaltending. Newly acquired goalie Tomas Vokoun is doing well with a 20-12-0 record and a .916 save percentage. But Michal Neuvirth is obviously not enjoying the role of backup as he has posted a 6-7-3 record this season and has a .892 save percentage. The price per head bookie experts do not have a lot of faith in the Capitals when Neuvirth is in net and the Capitals seem to love to play its backup more than most other teams. As Vokoun plays more, the Capitals seem to gain stability. The fans are hoping that interim head coach Dale Hunter can see that and keep Vokoun in the nets.

Florida Panthers
The Panthers’ problems are not so much the lack of defense, it is more a lack of balance that plagues this team. Sportsbook reviews of games earlier in the season show a team that leaned way too much on a hot goalie. Once Theodore started to crack under the pressure, the offense could not pick up the pace. The Panthers need to start balancing their attack and bring their forwards back to start playing defense. If Florida does not make some changes to the way it plays, then other teams will just continue to skate around them.

[Read more...]

Online Betting Overview
Sustained success throughout an entire NHL season is extremely difficult. Even the best teams go into slumps or start dropping games because key players are out with injuries. But the difference between decent teams and champions is that the champions find ways to keep on winning despite all of the problems. It looks like the Dallas Stars are at least a decent team this year. After a great start, the Stars kind of limped into the All-Star break and dropped a few places in the standings. But the Stars have shown that it has the players it needs to climb back towards the top of the Pacific Division. It is just a matter of getting that winning groove back.

The plight of the Anaheim Ducks has kind of been lost with all of the Super Bowl betting hoopla as of late, but things are not going well in Anaheim. The Ducks were not a very good team to begin with and relied heavily on goaltender Jonas Hiller to steal wins for the team. When the season started, Hiller wasn’t stealing anything. Then the Ducks decided to fire its head coach and bring in Bruce Boudreau three days after Boudreau had been fired by the Washington Capitals. It seemed like a great move at first, but now Anaheim is starting to find out why Boudreau was made the fall guy in Washington. As the Capitals move up the Eastern Conference standings without Boudreau, the Ducks continue to drop in the Western Conference standings.

Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars have hit a really rough patch as of late and were 4-5-1 in the 10 games leading up to the All-Star break. Even though the Stars are 11-12-0 on the road, the price per head bookie experts still do not seem concerned about Dallas’ ability to make the playoffs this season. The area where the Stars need to improve is defense. The Stars have scored 126 goals this season, but it has allowed 136. It cannot all be blamed on goaltender Kari Lehtonen as the Dallas defense has a really bad habit of leaving Lehtonen on his own much of the game. But Lehtonen still stands strong for his team and the Stars need to find that scoring touch again if it wants to start winning games. Lehtonen is 1-4-0 in his last five starts, but he only allowed a total of nine goals in those four loses. In one of those loses, Lehtonen only allowed one goal.

Anaheim Ducks
It would make sense that a team like Dallas, that is having problems playing defense and scoring goals right now, would be a great match for any team in need of a win. But things have not been that easy for the Ducks. On the plus side, sportsbook reviews of the Ducks’ last 10 games show an 8-1-1 record. The Ducks will have to climb high and fast if it wants to make the playoffs. But the team has just not shown the consistency needed to win big games.

[Read more...]

Sports Betting Overview

It would be a mistake to underestimate the Detroit Red Wings just because a game happens to be played outside of Joe Louis Arena. At home, the Red Wings have won 17 straight games and are approaching the all-time consecutive home win record of 20 posted by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers. Since the Superbowl betting in Detroit lost its luster when the Lions got knocked out of the playoffs, the sports attention of Detroit has been turned to the Red Wings. The Red Wings have had competitive teams for many years, but none of the recent teams has even approached the level of regular season success that this team is enjoying.

The Montreal Canadiens are the only team in the Eastern Conference with a losing home record at 8-9-7. Even the last place Buffalo Sabres have a home record of 11-9-5. Montreal’s problems at home and on the road have been well-documented, and the variety of solutions the front office has employed to get the team going have been mystifying. From trading a player in the middle of a game to firing an assistant coach for seemingly no reason during the morning skate, the price per head bookie experts are wondering if the Montreal Canadiens have the know-how and ability to pull themselves out of this slide it is in. As always, the pressure to win in Montreal is intense. But things get much worse when bad decisions are being made.

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have lost only two games at home all season long, but it has lost 13 games on the road. The Red Wings are clinging to a 13-13-0 road record and trying desperately to make sure that the Western Conference playoffs have to go through Detroit for all of the rounds. The Red Wings do not want to have to rely on winning road games to win the Stanley Cup. A 5 dimes review of the stats for the regular season so far show that the Detroit Red Wings have a +48 in goal differential this season, which is second in the league behind Boston’s +71. Detroit has a balanced attack and plays a solid game. It just needs to learn how to translate that to road games.

[Read more...]

Betting Websites Overview

The NHL fans in Florida have not exactly been going to the arena in droves. But the fans that did come out to see the Florida Panthers play in the early part of the NHL season saw a team that was dominating the Southeast Division. But as the fans in Florida attend to their Superbowl betting, the Panthers are starting to see injuries and inconsistent play dissolve part of the good work that the team has done. The surging Washington Capitals have taken over the lead in the Southeast Division as the Panthers continue to struggle. But the Panthers are still staying close in their games as their last two losses came in overtime. No one wants to lose consecutive overtime games, but at least Florida is collecting points and staying in the playoff race.

The Chicago Blackhawks continue to be one of the top teams in the NHL and have enjoyed some very consistent play from its top players. The only Chicago superstar that seems to hit a rough spot as of late is Patrick Kane. Kane has been struggling with his play in recent games and was even having problems with a weak Buffalo Sabres’ defense in a recent home game. But the price per head bookie experts know better than to count Patrick Kane out of any season and fans can only imagine how much more potent the Blackhawks will be when Kane is back to his scoring form. For the time being, scoring leaders such as captain Jonathan Toews are helping the Blackhawks to stay on top in the Western Conference and the league standing.

Florida Panthers

The Panthers are 3-4-3 in the last 10 games and have hit a bit of a bump in its goaltending. Jose Theodore is back in the nets after coming back from an injury, but he looks a little rusty still. But the Panthers need Theodore to play well if it wants to regain its top spot in the Southeast Division. One of the big problems that the Panthers is having is the lack of scoring that has been an issue all season long is finally catching up with the team.  A 5 dimes review of the Panthers’ goal differential shows Florida at a -12. While this is nothing to be alarmed about, it is the pattern that the Panthers have shown all season. Earlier in the year, Florida was able to win those close games and grab two points. Lately, the Panthers have not been able to win the close games and that is one of the main reasons why the team is having problems getting points in the standings.

[Read more...]

Online Betting Overview
Those simultaneous hissing noises you hear coming from Washington, DC and Pittsburgh, PA are the air being let out of the Capitals’ and Penguins’ seasons. The Penguins used to be resilient. It used to be that Pittsburgh could at least be competitive without its captain Sidney Crosby. But the price per head bookie experts have watched the Penguins fall from the top of the Atlantic Division to fourth place. One of the more distressing thing for Penguins’ fans is that Pittsburgh is holding on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference by only one point. A little more stumbling and the Penguins could find itself on the outside looking in.

It has become extremely obvious by now that firing Bruce Boudreau as head coach of the Washington Capitals was not the answer to improving the team. The price per head sports experts would also like to point out that replacing Boudreau with rookie NHL head coach Dale Hunter was an even worse move. Hunter never had any leadership qualities when he was a player and that lack of leadership is spilling over into his head coaching style. The Capitals are afloat in a sea of mediocrity and it is hard to tell what can bring the team out of it. Even winning a couple of games last week did not seem to help. When things like this happen, fans look first at the coach and then the captain. The coach has been replaced, and team captain Alex Ovechkin is getting more and more disinterested by the day.

Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins are still playing hard every night and it could just be going through a stretch where nothing is going right. A 5 dimes review of the Penguins’ last 10 games shows a record of 4-6-0. But that stretch includes a four-game losing streak where the Penguins cannot seem to do anything right. The fans in Pittsburgh need to be patient as Pittsburgh is only 10 points out of first place in the division. If there is a team in the NHL that has the capability to suddenly go on an extended winning streak, then that team would be the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Washington Capitals
For the first time in a very long time, the Washington Capitals have allowed more goals than it has scored. The other very noticeable attribute of the Capitals’ 2011-2012 record is that the NHL scores the Capitals are logging on the road are terrible. The Capitals are 7-12-1 on the road, but the team is 14-5-1 at home. The Capitals come into this game on a two-game losing streak and it is just one of many losing streaks the Caps have been on since Dale Hunter took over.

[Read more...]

Sports Betting Overview
Any team that uses injuries as an excuse for poor play needs to look at the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last two seasons. Last season, the Penguins lost superstar Sidney Crosby in January for the rest of the season. But the team plodded forward and was still one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Then the Penguins lost superstar Evgeni Malkin a month before the playoffs last season and still wound up competing well in the first round of the playoffs before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now the Penguins face the very real possibility that it will have to move forward without Crosby permanently. But yet the Penguins keep winning and keep playing great hockey.

The changes that the New York Rangers made in the off-season, especially the addition of Brad Richards, look like they are paying off. The pay per head sportsbook experts were not sure what to expect from the Rangers when the season started because it can sometimes take new players time to gel with existing players. But the chemistry on this Rangers’ team is so deep that the new players fit right in and the existing players kept right on going. It is starting to look like the New York Rangers made the best moves in the off-season free agency market.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Despite its current two-game losing streak, the Penguins remain one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. The bookie software shows that the Penguins have 46 points and trail the conference leading Rangers by only six points. Every game the Penguins play against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers this season is extremely important to the Penguins’ chances of making the playoffs. The Penguins are a solid balance of goal scoring and solid defense, but the most notable part of the Penguins’ game is their tenacity. The Penguins score goals by never giving up on a play and grinding until the puck is in the net. That is what will make this a great hockey game.

New York Rangers
Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is having another banner season as the Rangers have only given up 79 goals in 37 games played. A 5 dimes review of the Rangers’ season last year compared to this year is that the team is scoring goals this season. The games that the Rangers were losing 1-0 and 2-1 last year have turned into wins because of the additional scoring punch the team has. The Rangers’ consistency and goal-scoring ability will make them very dangerous in the playoffs. In this game, it will be the Rangers’ ability to play in both ends of the ice that will grab the victory.

[Read more...]

Online Betting Overview
There is something about the way that the New Jersey Devils play on the road that always has opponents concerned. In its last 10 games, the Devils are 7-2-1 but that does include an overtime loss on the road. But the Devils are a different team this year than last year. Jacques Lemaire is not behind the bench and it does not look like he will be ever again. That is just fine for the Devils because whatever Lemaire taught them last season seems to have stuck, somewhat. At this point last season, Lemaire had been behind the New Jersey bench for two weeks and the team was climbing out of obscurity. This season, under Peter DeBoer, the Devils sit in seventh place and are right in the middle of a playoff race. What a difference a year makes.

The Boston Bruins remain a defensive juggernaut with Zdeno Chara on defense and Tim Thomas in goal. According to the price per head sports experts, the Bruins have given up only 68 goals this season in 35 games played. The only other team that is even close to that kind of defensive play is the New York Rangers who have given up 79 goals in 37 games played. The Bruins struggled a little out of the gate, but it has turned up the heat and has become one of the price per head bookie favorites to win the Eastern Conference title this year.

New Jersey Devils
The Devils love to play that slow game that relies on the trap and the ageless skills of goaltender Martin Brodeur. But the Devils are finding that playing defense with an aging group that is slowing down is not easy when the rest of the league is picking up the pace. What has saved the Devils this season is that it has been able to keep games close while also scoring a little more than last year. Guys like Ilya Kovalchuk are starting to contribute a little more consistently than last season. The Devils will need to pick up the scoring pace if it wants to go deep into the playoffs, but the Devils’ style of play is perfect for playing a team like the Bruins. The patience that the Devils have will allow New Jersey to stand toe-to-toe with Boston in this game.

Boston Bruins
A sportsbook.com review of the Bruins’ season shows that the Bruins can score goals as well as prevent them. The Bruins have 123 goals scored in 35 games played, which puts Boston in the top-half of the league in goal production. The Bruins are a potent combination of defense and scoring that one would expect from a Stanley Cup champion.

[Read more...]

Online Betting Overview
There is no team better at playing defense in the NHL than the Boston Bruins. For a long time, that was what people used to say about the New Jersey Devils. But the Bruins have only allowed 64 goals against in 34 games played. New Jersey has allowed 104 goals against in 36 games played, according to the price per head sports experts. You would think that would indicate that the Bruins will probably stifle the Devils in this game. That may have been the case last season. But this year the Devils are a grinding team that likes to get into the corner and battle for the puck. The Devils have become extremely good at finding the open spot and then getting the puck to that spot. The fortunes for the Devils are improving and the defense is coming around.

When the season began, people shrugged their shoulders when the price per head bookmaking experts made the Bruins one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup in 2012. It just seemed like an old habit to make the defending champion one of the favorites to win it again. But Boston has gone out of its way to show the rest of the league that not only are the Bruins a legitimate Cup contender this season, but it looks like the road to the Stanley Cup finals could go through Boston this year. The Bruins continue to battle the Chicago Blackhawks for the top position in the league and it does not look like Boston will be ready to break off from that battle any time soon.

New Jersey Devils
By January 4 of 2011, the Devils had a replacement head coach and were winning games in bunches. As soon as Jacques Lemaire left New Jersey, you could hear the air come out of the building. The Devils started the season struggling. But a 5 dimes review of the team’s performance late last week showed a record of 7-3-0 in a stretch of 10 games. The Devils are playing much better defense and are skating on offense. After a sluggish start, hall of fame goaltender Martin Brodeur has found his groove and has even gotten his swagger back. Brodeur has been gunning for open nets late in games and is intent upon scoring another goal. He may not get his chance in this game.

Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins finished last week with an amazing 8-2-0 run in 10 games that included a seven-game winning streak. Not only are the Bruins keeping the NHL scores low for its opponents, but it is also third on the team scoring list with 121 goals. The Bruins are on a roll that looks like it may not stop until late-May.

[Read more...]

Sports Betting Overview
The Montreal Canadiens were warned that small forwards combined with a big and slow defense is not going to win a lot of games. The Canadiens thought that it had a team structured much like the Philadelphia Flyers. But Montreal forgot that the Flyers’ defensemen can skate and some of the forwards that play for Philadelphia are pretty huge. According to the pay per head sportsbook experts, the Canadiens’ organization decided that head coach Jacques Martin was the problem, so they fired him and replaced him with Randy Cunneyworth. Unfortunately, a different pilot is not getting better results with the same aircraft. The Canadiens is still losing and do not look any closer to improving its situation.

According to the price per head bookie experts, the Chicago Blackhawks are the top team in the NHL. The Blackhawks are riding a five-game winning streak that is part of a stretch in the last 10 games that has seen the team go 8-1-1. But teams all over the league keep waiting for the bottom to fall out on the Blackhawks as the Blackhawks are among the worst teams in the league in playing defense. At this point, the Blackhawks have allowed 98 goals against, which is one of the highest totals in the league. To counteract that defensive weakness, the Blackhawks have scored 111 goals this season, which is tied for second-best in the league. Chicago keeps rolling along and exploiting teams that are set up just like the Montreal Canadiens.

Montreal Canadiens
A betonline.com review of the Canadiens shows that firing the head coach was not the answer to the team’s problems. New head coach Randy Cunneyworth has come in and lead the Canadiens to a three-game losing streak. The fans in Montreal are not happy when the team sinks to the bottom of the division and conference standings. Coaching in Montreal is one of the toughest jobs in hockey. With a team that shows little to no chance of showing significant improvement in the near future, the job could be a short one for Randy Cunneyworth.

Chicago Blackhawks
The NHL fans in Chicago are loving the way that the Chicago Blackhawks are playing hockey, but it has to drive head coach Joel Quenneville crazy. The Chicago defense is made up of players that think they are wingers. When the play moves up the ice, the Chicago defense continually finds itself out of position. But goaltender Corey Crawford is just good enough to keep the Blackhawks in most of the games they play. It is a dangerous way to win hockey games, but the Blackhawks will keep using this game plan until it backfires on them.

[Read more...]

Sports Betting Overview
Now the hammer falls on the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers just found out that they will be without Chris Pronger for the rest of the season. Philadelphia had already been playing without Pronger for a while and will likely be fine without him as the season wears on. But as any price per head sports expert will tell you, the initial impact of losing a key player for the season takes a few games to get over. The Flyers will be thinking about Pronger even when they take the ice a week later in Dallas. The Flyers are also adjusting to live without leading scorer Claude Giroux who is also out with a concussion. It is unclear when Giroux will be back, but it is doubtful that he will be back in time for this game. That leaves the Flyers without its top offensive and defensive players to face one of the top teams in the Western Conference. It will be an interesting game.

The Dallas Stars just keep rolling right along and playing consistent hockey. The Stars finished last week with a three-game winning streak and look fully prepared to keep the momentum going. The price per head bookie experts did not have the Dallas Stars as preseason playoff contenders. The Stars gave no indication last season that they would be able to climb to the top of the Western Conference standings, but the Stars lead the Pacific Division and are sitting in third place in the conference. One of the key differences between last season and this season is the improved play of goaltender Kari Lehtonen. But Lehtonen has been out injured since November. Backup Richard Bachman has been playing well, but he will be tested against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Philadelphia Flyers
It should be noted that the losses of Pronger and Giroux do not leave the Philadelphia Flyers completely helpless. This is still one of the best teams in the league. But the betonline sports experts are starting to question whether or not the Flyers have what it takes to perform come playoff time. Once again, the problem is goaltending. Philadelphia brought it former Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to help lend some stability to the goalie position. While Bryzgalov has been brilliant at times, second-year goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has had to go in and rescue Bryzgalov at times. Just like last year, there could be goaltending questions surrounding the Flyers as they enter the playoffs.

Dallas Stars
The play of goaltender Richard Bachman has been a pleasant surprise to the Dallas Stars. But it is starting to put a strain on the team’s offensive output. The Stars have been falling back into a more defensive posture ever since Lehtonen was hurt and that means no defensemen joining in on the rush. NHL fans in Dallas are starting to wonder how much longer the Stars can adjust their style to accommodate the loss of Lehtonen.

[Read more...]