Category: Hockey

The Winnipeg Jets will open the season on the road tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. Winnipeg was 30-23-3 last year overall and an impressive 17-10-1 on the road. Anaheim on the other hand was a dismal 17-30-9 overall and just 6-18-4 at Honda Center. The Jets advanced to the second round of the playoffs last year but were stymied by the Montréal Canadiens due to poor defensive play but that has been addressed with the acquisition of Vancouver’s Nate Schmidt and Washington’s Brenden Dillon. The Ducks did make some moves toward youth in the offseason but still have some of the old guard hanging around like Getzlaf, Silfverberg, and Fowler, and once again should be bottom-dwellers in the Pacific division. The Jets are 6-1 in their last 7 meetings with the Ducks and get their quest for the Cup off on the right foot.
TONIGHT’S PICK: WINNIPEG JETS

Amalie Arena will be electric tonight when the Tampa Bay Lightning raise their Stanley Cup banner and open the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh will be without two of their key weapons, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who are both sidelined with injuries and that is not good for a Penguins team that is 0-5 in their last 5 trips to Tampa. Tampa finished the regular season with a 21-7 record at home and are expected to have Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes, who was outstanding as usual last season. Can the Tampa Bay Lightning capture their third straight Stanley Cup victory? Absolutely and the quest starts tonight.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Vegas Golden Knights might be down 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche but this series is far from over. The Golden Knights proved they can hang with the Avs and outplayed them in Game 2. If not for a pretty weak slashing call on Reilly Smith in OT, which led to Mikko Rantanen finding the back of the net, this series could easily be knotted up. Tonight the series switches to T-Mobile Arena and there will be 18,000 raucous fans in attendance pulling for the home team so it will be electric. Vegas was 21-5-2 at home in the regular season and will have future HOF Marc-André Fleury between the pipes. Don’t fade the Golden Knights just yet.
TONIGHT’S PICK: VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

The Buffalo Sabres are on an amazing winning streak. They have won one in a row. Tonight they will take their 4-12-0-2 road record to the Prudential Center to face the New Jersey Devils. After snapping their 18-game skid, the Sabres have won 2 of their last 3. Winning is contagious. The Sabres will be facing a Devils team that is just 4-12-1-2 at home and have lost 5 of their last 6. Buffalo is better than their record reflects. Take the Western New Yorkers.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BUFFALO SABRES

There is a must-see game in the NHL tonight when the Winnipeg Jets host the Toronto Maple Leafs. These are two of the best in the business and are so evenly matched it is ridiculous. Both teams have 22 wins on the season and Winnipeg is 10-5-0-1 at home, with Toronto posting a road record of 10-4-1-0. So how do you handicap this game? Flip a coin? No, you consider the home team. Winnipeg will be a dog in this one. They are 5-1 in their last 6 in this situation and have won 4 of their last 5. The last meeting between these two clubs was in Toronto on March 13th, with the Jets cruising to a 5-2 victory.
TONIGHT’S PICK: WINNIPEG JETS

The Columbus Blue Jackets are spiraling out of control. The Jackets have lost 4 straight and 7 of their last 10. They were most recently swept by the lowly Detroit Red Wings and now they have to travel to Amalie Arena to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Good luck. The Lightning are on a rare 2-game skid and fell to the Jackets in their last meeting, 5-2, on January 23rd so they will be extra motivated to put the screws to Columbus tonight. Tampa is, without a doubt, the best team in hockey. They are 24-8-1-1 on the season and have been deadly at home with a record of 13-2-0-0. Consider the Champs.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

The Buffalo Sabres will try to stop the bleeding when they host the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at KeyBank Center. Buffalo has lost a franchise 17 straight games but they will eventually win and tonight could be that night. The Flyers have not been playing well. They did eke out a win on Saturday against the New York Rangers but prior to that they had lost 4 in a row and are just 3-7 in their last 10. Buffalo showed glimmers of hope in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Boston and are expected to have Linus Ullmark between the pipes. Ullmark has a very respectable 2.49 GAA and a 0.918 SV%. The Sabres know they can beat the Bullies. They did so back on Jan 18th, 6-1, and the home team between these two clubs is 13-5 in their last 18 meetings. Buffalo is worth a shot.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BUFFALO SABRES