Anthony’s NHL Record: 19-11
Anthony’s Twitter: @AJGIII07
I. AM. BACK. With another perfect week in the books – I don’t know why I ever doubt myself. What a treat this was to come back to after an exciting night of NFL action. I admit I’m not the best at keeping track of wins and losses. I was curious to see how many units I was up from these NHL Thursday night picks, so I meticulously combed through all my picks the last couple of months and ran the numbers. The results: For every pick; including the degenerate bonus plays, I am up three units with a 10% ROI. To be honest, that seems a little low, but either way, I can’t be upset. We’re in the green, and that’s all that matters. Let’s take a look at last week’s beauty of a week.
Guess what? I finally cashed in on the Islanders. The curse was broken in an ass-whooping fashion. They smashed the Rangers last week. It was almost a precursor to what happened the last few days with them and Tom Wilson. The Islanders were dominating all game, scoring twice in the first period and not letting up the rest of the game. The Rangers didn’t do themselves any favors with the twelve giveaways. Whatever. I’ll take it. A win is a win.
This Blues and Wild game was an absolute shootout. I don’t know what the line was set at for over 8.5 goals, but man I wish I had the balls to bet that. Despite this game ending with nine goals – it started out quite slow. Going into the third period we still needed two goals to cover the over, and I admit I was a little worried. But both teams exploded with a combined four goals in the third, allowing me to baste in all the glory that a perfect week brings.
You know, it‘s nice to have a week where we weren’t sweating any of these picks. I’m feeling it again this week. Let’s get another sweep.
New York Rangers @ Boston Bruins: Bruins Puck Line -1.5 (+105)
Sorry Rangers, time to salt those wounds – literally. It’s been a wild last few days for the New York Rangers, and it doesn’t get much easier this week when they face off against the Boston Bruins. If you watched the Rangers and Capitals slugfest last night, you know that the Rangers were playing with a lot of emotion. Literally, one second into the game – all hell broke loose. This had more action than most UFC fight cards recently. There were knuckles being tossed every five minutes. I don’t blame the Rangers though. That punch by Wilson that sparked all this bad blood was dirty as hell.
As much as I want to root for the Rangers in this game, I can’t do it. They are coming off back-to-back losses with all this drama sprinkled in. I don’t think they mentally recover fast enough to go tit for tat with the Bruins.
The stats back this puck line play up big time. The Rangers have lost by two or more goals in four of their last 5 games. As for the Bruins, they’ve been lighting it up recently. They have won four of their last five games by two or more goals. I don’t see how the New York Rangers can show up against the Boston Bruins in this spot. I expect this to be a blowout. Let’s lock this in and root for the home team.
Chicago Blackhawks @ Carolina Hurricanes: Blackhawks Team Total Over 2.5 Goals (+128)
Sure, they’ve lost the last five straight, but that doesn’t matter when betting team totals. The Blackhawks could have lost the last twenty games, and I’d still take this line. They are consistently scoring enough goals to cover their team total each week, and I think they do it again against the Hurricanes. In the last five games they’ve played, the Blackhawks have scored at least three goals four times.
What scares me about this pick is that this game truly is a David vs. Goliath matchup. The Hurricanes are the much better team, both offensively and defensively. Considering that the Hurricanes are allowing a league-low 2.24 goals on average, this could get ugly for us. Could this game finish with a score of 4-0? Not out of the realm of possibility. Let’s just hope the Blackhawks can put up enough of a fight and slap in three goals. It’s going to be close, but I think they pull it off.
That wraps up this week’s edition of my Thursday Night picks. Let’s continue to stack the win column and boost our bankrolls. If you can’t get enough sports betting content – go check out all the other great things The Odds Factory has to offer. You know - like our TomBox sports betting algorithm that has been spitting out MLB winners the last few weeks.
