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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.

Chicago Blackhawks

The NHL fans in Chicago are having visions of another Stanley Cup in their heads. But Chicago is flirting with disaster as well with the way the Blackhawks’ defensemen constantly jump up into the play. The Blackhawks have a +21 goal differential, but it has also given up more goals than any other division leader. The Blackhawks will need to tighten up on defense if it wants to make another run at the Stanley Cup.

The Bottom Line

The free-wheeling Blackhawks may wind up being too much for the conservative Panthers. While Florida’s defense may be able to contain the Blackhawks for a little while, eventually the Hawks will break out and put this game away.

Pick: Chicago Blackhawks

Sports Betting Overview

On the last day before the two-day Christmas break, hockey fans get a quick preview of the 2012 Winter Classic as the New York Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers. It is still strange to think that the Rangers are playing in the Winter Classic and the game is not in the New Yankee Stadium. But this game will be held atMadisonSquareGarden, and it is a game that both teams need. The Rangers trail the Flyers by four points in the Atlantic Division standings. It is a situation the Rangers have not been in for some time as the team is battling for the division lead heading into the new year. The addition of players such as Brad Richards have significantly helped the Rangers’ cause. This could be a very good year to be a Rangers’ fan.

The Philadelphia Flyers got their leading scorer Claude Giroux back from a concussion and Giroux got right back to lighting up the lamp with a four-point performance against the Dallas Stars. According to the price per head bookie experts, Giroux is definitely an early MVP candidate and a potential Rocket Richard award winner for top scorer in the league as well. The Flyers is still rotating goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Ilya Bryzgalov without one goalie really showing that he wants to take the top spot. The price per head bookmaking experts point to Bryzgalov as the number one goalie due to the volume of work he has done so far this season. But the Flyers are not afraid to put in Bobrovsky when Bryzgalov is having a bad night.

New York Rangers

The one thing that has been in consistent in New York, and does not get enough credit for his work, is goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. With the acquisition of Richards in the offseason, the Rangers’ offense was given a tremendous boost. But New Yorkhas never worried about its defense because Lundqvist has been back there. A sportsbook.com review of Lunqvist’s stats this season show him at the top of the league in save percentage and goals against average again. The difference is that his efforts are helping to push the Rangers to the top of the Eastern Conference this season. The Rangers are scoring goals and playing good defense on their way to the Winter Classic.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers are a very fragile hockey team. Philadelphiahas already lost defenseman Chris Pronger for an extended period of time this season due to injury. Pronger is the team’s captain and he is gone for the season. When the Flyers lost Claude Giroux to a concussion for a couple of weeks, the team kind of buckled a little bit. The NHL fans inPhiladelphia are always wondering if their team has what it takes to win the Stanley Cup. For the last few years, the Flyers have been the victim of inconsistent goaltending. It is tough to get a read on where thePhiladelphia goaltending situation is headed this season, but it does look a lot more stable than it has in previous years. The Flyers finally have a real starting goaltender in Ilyz Bryzgalov and a quality backup in Sergei Bobrovsky. With thePhiladelphia offense back intact, that goaltending could be backstopping one of the best offenses in the league.

The Bottom Line

This will be a physical game and it will show why these two teams were selected to play in the Winter Classic this year. But the Philly offense may prove to be a little too much for the Rangers’ defense.

Pick: Philadelphia Flyers

Sports Betting Overview

Anyone who would have made the prediction that the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild would be battling it out to see who is the best team in the league on into the middle of December would have been laughed at by the price per head bookie crowd. There was absolutely nothing going on with either team that would have indicated that such a drastic turnaround was possible. The Wild missed the playoffs by a wide margin last season and the Blackhawks barely made it into the post season. There weren’t any major roster changes to either team that indicated potential success and the coaches are the same as well.

One of the things that happened to the Minnesota Wild is the emergence of goaltender Niklas Backstrom. According to the price per head services statistics, Backstrom has a record of11-5-2 this season. He has a 2.08 goals against average, a .932 save percentage and has recorded two shutouts. The Blackhawks discovered that Corey Crawford can be their starting goaltender, butChicago also picked up veteran goalie Ray Emery for insurance. Emery is6-1-2 in his starts this year and had been the defensive boost that the Blackhawks needed. Now both the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild are the top two teams in theNHL. When these two teams get together, you can imagine that goals will be at a premium.

Chicago Blackhawks

There are two significant differences between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota Wild. The first difference is that the Blackhawks can score goals while the Wild rely more on defense to win games. Chicagois the second-highest scoring team in the league with 99 goals. That is only two goals behind the Philadelphia Flyers. A 5 dimes review of the Blackhawks’ roster shows that the scoring is pretty balanced between the forwards and the defensemen.Chicago is not afraid to bring its defensemen into the offensive play.

The other significant difference between the Blackhawks and the Wild is that the Wild does not allow nearly as many goals per game as the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks have given up 92 goals this season while the Wild have only given up 64 goals. That is a significant difference in philosophy.

Minnesota Wild

The NHL fans inMinnesota love a winner and they appreciate a team that works hard. The Wild falls into both categories.Minnesota grinds out wins and focuses more on efficient defense than flashy offense. With a quality goaltender to back up a solid defense, the Wild are hoping that it has the formula it needs for playoff success.

The Bottom Line

The Wild will grind down the Blackhawks and frustrate theChicagoscorers on a regular basis. This will not be a very high-scoring game, but it will be a fun game to watch if you enjoy hard-hitting hockey and world-class goaltending. But the Wild will find a way to neutralize theChicagoscoring attack which will shut the Blackhawks down completely.

Pick: Minnesota Wild

Online Wagering Overview

It has been a rough week for the Northeast Division. This was the first time in a long time that every team in a division had lost its most recent game in the same week. All of the Northeast teams are coming off loses this week, including the Toronto Maple Leafs. But the Leafs are still plugging away at the Northeast Division standings and trying to keep pace with the division-leading Boston Bruins. The Bruins are not making it easy when it goes8-1-1 in the last 10 games.Toronto has posted a5-4-1 record in its last five games, but there are no glaring weaknesses on the Leafs’ roster. Top goalie James Reimer is back from injury and trying to work the kinks out of his game. In the meantime, the Leafs are playing some hard-nosed hockey.

The price per head bookmaking sports crowd has noticed that the Washington Capitals are not playing any better under new head coach Dale Hunter than they did for Bruce Boudreau. The performance of the Anaheim Ducks since Boudreau arrived there after getting fired fromWashington would suggest that Boudreau was not the problem inWashington. Alexander Ovechkin sprung to life in the Caps’ most recent game againstOttawa to propel the team to a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. But the Caps are still not playing with any heart, and that needs to change if the team is going to start picking up some much-needed wins.

Toronto Maple Leafs

There is not denying the fact that, even with a healthy Reimer in goal, the Leafs tend to give up a lot of goals. In 28 games played this season, the Leafs have given up 90 goals. That is better than three per game, and that can be a problem if your team is not scoring goals. In that same period, the Leafs have scored 89 goals. According to the price per head services experts, that means that the Leafs tend to get blown out of games every once in a while. With the Capitals starting to score goals in bunches, that could be bad news for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Washington Capitals

Dale Hunter was an aggressive player in his playing days and he is proving to be an aggressive coach. An aggressive coach that expects a lot from his players is exactly what the Washington Capitals need. This is the same team that benched star player Alexander Semin early in the season for a lack of effort. Hunter is trying to put a better work ethic and a meaner attitude into his team. He has the players to make that kind of an approach happen. It is just a matter of whether or not the players are interested in buying in to that kind of an approach.

The Bottom Line

A wagerweb review of the Caps’ last 10 games shows a team that has gone4-6-0. But the team appears to slowly be turning a corner and improving its play. The Caps are9-4-1 at home, and look to improve on that record when the Leafs come to town.

Pick: Washington Capitals

Online Sportsbook Overview

The Boston Bruins are the defending Stanley Cup champions that everyone expected to be at the top of the NHL standings again this year. With Boston’s physical style of defense, speed on offense and the goaltending of Tim Thomas, it is not hard to see why Boston keeps on rolling along. But the Toronto Maple Leafs was not expected to be a sustained element at the top of the Northeast Division standings. The Leafs had its goalie in James Reimer and that was all that Toronto was supposed to have. But general manager Brian Burke looks like a genius as his roster has gelled into becoming one of the top offensive teams in the league.

The problem for Toronto is that it feels like the team is playing on borrowed time. James Reimer has been out of the line-up since October 22 with an injury, but yet the Leafs keep on rolling. The price per head bookie websites are expecting the Leafs to start tumbling back down the Northeast Division standings without its goalie, but Toronto keeps putting up enough goals to keep on winning. The Leafs have a home and home series coming up with the Bruins where they play in Toronto on Wednesday and then in Boston on Saturday. These two games will give a good indication of where the Leafs are at without their goalie in net.

Boston Bruins

It was a rough start for the Bruins, but the defending Stanley Cup champions have finally risen to the top of the Northeast Division. However, Boston was only able to rise as high as second in the division. The very top spot in the Northeast Division is occupied by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins play a tough style of defense and it has paid off for the team. In the last 10 games, the Bruins are 9-0-1 with the only blemish being a shoot-out loss to Detroit on November 25. The price per head fans in Boston are happy with the team’s start, and the team is finally rolling in a direction that puts it near the top of the NHL standings. The Bruins have finally become the test against which all other teams are graded.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Much to the surprise of the Maple Leafs’ faithful, back-up goalie Jonas Gustavsson has been instrumental in preserving the team’s three-game winning streak. A 5 dimes review of the play of Gustavsson shows that he has been keeping teams at three goals or less for four consecutive games and that Gustavsson himself is actually riding a four-game winning streak. But the Bruins will crash the net and make the Leafs earn this win, if that is what the Leafs wind up doing.

The Bottom Line

After more than a quarter of the season gone, it is safe to say that the Leafs can be considered playoff contenders this season. But before the Toronto faithful are convinced that they can stop throwing waffles on the ice, they will need to see Toronto compete against a team like the Bruins. The Leafs may not win either of these upcoming games, or the best it may do is a split. But if the Leafs can make a strong showing against Boston, then that sets up an interesting rest of the season.

Pick: Boston Bruins

Online Betting Sites Overview

Whatever theTorontoorganization is feeding this current Maple Leafs team, it needs to get more of it. The problem inTorontofor years was goaltender. James Reimer comes along last season and seems to solve that problem. But injuries and inconsistency have created goaltending issues inTorontoonce again. But it looks like the rest of the Leafs have decided to simply bypass the goaltending issue by filling the net with pucks. In a complete shock, the Toronto Maple Leafs went out and bowled over Eastern Conference powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning 7-1. Sure the Leafs only gave up one goal, but that was primarily becauseTorontospent most of the game in theTampaend scoring goals.

The price per head sports fans in Dallas are pretty happy with the team this season. The goaltending from Kari Lehtonen has become much more reliable this season and the team is scoring goals as well. Dallas is 5-5-0 in the last 10 games and while that is not Earth-shattering, it beats Dallas being 2-8-0 or some other horrible number similar to what the team was posting last year. The whole team seems to be playing better and Dallas is only one point out of first place in the Pacific Division. If Dallas wants to stay on the bookie software radar as a contender this year, then it will need to keep winning to maintain pace with the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks.

Toronto Maple Leafs

In 22 games played, the Toronto Maple Leafs have scored 70 goals. You would think that a stat like that would catapult the Leafs to first place in the Eastern Conference. But the Leafs have also given up 70 goals this season and, at some point, that defensive inconsistency will catch up to a team. A wagerweb review of the goaltending situation shows that James Reimer has only been able to play six games this season. In those six games he is 4-0-1, which shows exactly how valuable Reimer is toToronto’s success. The Leafs need Reimer back if it is going to compete for a title this year.

Dallas Stars

There is not much to say about the Stars except that it is a very consistent and well-coached team. At home, the Stars are an impressive7-3-0and play a very steady game when it has the lead. About the only thing that the Leafs can do is try to get behind theDallasdefense to throw shots at Lehtonen and hope that those shots start going in to the net. Since that seems to be the thing thatTorontohas excelled at lately, that makes this a very interesting game.

The Bottom Line

Torontohas been finding ways to score goals all season long. It is an exciting team, but it can be wildly inconsistent. The Dallas Stars seem to be more methodical in its approach and could put a defensive system in place that will keep the Leafs away from Kari Lehtonen.

Pick: Dallas Stars

Sport Betting Overview

The Chicago Blackhawks have quietly climbed to the very top of theNHLstandings with 25 points. The Blackhawks had a tough year last season because of the players lost to the post-Cup fire sale. It took a while for the team to adjust, and it also took time to find the right answers at key positions. Last season, the Blackhawks brought in former Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco to replace Antti Niemi who went to the San Jose Sharks. Turco was a bomb and retired when the season ended. The solution for the Blackhawks in goal was on the roster the entire time and it was Corey Crawford. With Crawford in net and forwards like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews scoring on a regular basis, it is no wonder that the Blackhawks are back at the top of theNHLstandings.

The price per head bookmaking experts were cringing a bit when the season started in Vancouver. The Canucks got off to a bad start and, as is the custom in Vancouver, the bad start was blamed on goaltender Roberto Luongo. The Canucks are scoring goals without a problem, but the defense and Luongo were not keeping the puck out of the net on a regular basis. The price per head fans inVancouver were growing impatient, but it looks like Luongo and the Canucks have started to turn things around again.Vancouver is5-5-0 in the last 10 games and looking to put a little more stability in the defense. Luongo came up big in the team’s last game which was a 4-1 win over the Islanders. Now the Canucks return home to host the best team in hockey.

Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are second in the league in scoring with 62 goals. That puts it just three goals behind the Philadelphia Flyers. But a 5 dimes review of the play of theChicago defense shows a goaltender in Corey Crawford that is often left on his own as the defense gets involved in the rush. Teams likeChicago live and die by the movement of the puck. To beat the Blackhawks, all a team needs to do is keep the puck inChicago’s end and take shots at Crawford. But, as many teams have found out this season, that is easier said than done.

Vancouver Canucks

Roberto Luongo started feeling the heat long before this season started. Fans were livid at the way the Canucks lost the Cup toBostonat the end of last season and, even though Luongo played a great Stanley Cup Finals series, the fans are still blaming him for the loss. When the Canucks got off to a slow start, Luongo was the target. However, in this case, it was justified as Luongo was playing terrible hockey. Now that theVancouvergoalie looks like he has figured things out, the Canucks can start winning again.

The Bottom Line

This will be a game that features theChicagooffense against theVancouverdefense. But, as much as Luongo and theVancouverdefense have improved, this is still a game that the Canucks cannot win.

Pick: Chicago Blackhawks

Game Overview

Anyone who follows the Breeder’s Cup betting knows that a change in the field can affect the outcome of the race. The Phoenix Coyotes were built on the goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov for many years. The Coyotes’ experienced its most successful seasons with Bryzgalov between the pipes. During the off-season, the Coyotes allowed Bryzgalov to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers officially ending an era inPhoenix. In his place, the Coyotes signed Tampa Bay Lightning backup goalie Mike Smith. Smith always had potential, and he has given the Coyotes’ fans a reason to be hopeful with a strong start to the season. But it will be the long-term results thatPhoenix fans will really be interested in as Bryzgalov usually got hot in the second-half of the season.

The Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers are two very unlikely conference leaders for the Western Conference. But both teams have the price per head bookie experts scrambling to re-configure the odds for this season. Where the Avalanche went right is when it put faith in former Washington Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov. When you put Varlamov’s stats through the bookie software, you get the profile of an under-achieving goaltender. Many thought that the Capitals were the problem and not Varlamov. Now that Varlamov has gotten off to a great start inColorado, fans are starting to see that he is a quality goalie that can lead a team to the playoffs.

Phoenix Coyotes

The problem with the Coyotes is that it cannot maintain a roster for a full season. Two seasons ago, the Coyotes built a roster after the trade deadline that rocketed to a top playoff spot in the Western Conference. But by the time the off-season was over, the team was dismantled. A 5 dimes review of the new Coyotes’ roster shows more changes with the most notable being the loss of Bryzgalov. The Phoenix Coyotes are riding a two-game winning streak that puts them in a good position to win this game against the Avalanche. ButPhoenix is still having problems scoring goals in critical situations, and that will hurt againstColorado.

Colorado Avalanche

The NHL fans inColorado are a little frustrated because the Avalanche cannot seem to win at home. But the Avalanche offer a good balance of timely scoring and solid goaltending that should be the key to winning at home or on the road. The Avalanche seems to play with more of a sense of urgency when it plays on the road, which results in better defensive play. At home,Colorado really opens up its game and leaves Varlamov alone in the defensive end of the ice. If the Avalanche can learn to clamp down a bit on its defensive zone play at home, then it could start pushing towards the top of the Western Conference.

The Bottom Line

The Avalanche will start tightening up its play at home which will result in less offensive chances for the opposition. The Coyotes are a good road team that is still trying to figure out how to play together as a team. This will game will develop slowly, but it should go the way of the Avalanche.

Pick: Colorado Avalanche

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers Toronto Maple Leafs at      2.070

Statistic:

193/339 57,5%

Ottawa Senators vs Florida Panthers Ottawa Senators at  2.220

Statistic:

193/339 57,5%