OT Winner, Chicken Dinner

Looks around and whispers… another profitable hockey night. Three straight.

A 2-0 night on my favorites (+2.1 units) and a 1-1 night on the other hockey picks (+0.2 units). Can’t ask for much more.

The Ducks and Predators (over 6.5) game was a clown show. If you had told me that the Ducks — who are terrible — would have four goals after the second period, I would’ve thought we hit this with ease by then. Wrong. Ducks up 4-0.

The Ducks added a fifth goal early in the third period, leaving me to think our only shot is for the fourth-worst team in the NHL to cover this total themselves.

The Predators finally got on the board with 10:15 left in the game, but we still needed one more goal. Time was running out, three minutes remained. Enter, Philip Tomasino.

Starting off the night 1-0 was lovely, especially with it being a one-unit, plus-money play. But I really wanted the next one (Coyotes ML +130).

This game was so fucking awesome. There was one sequence late in the third period that perfectly summed up how electric this game was.

Connor fucking Ingram. I told you not to sleep. He stood on his damn head the entire third period and overtime. Big save after big save. And we needed it.

David Pastrnak had two breakaway chances in overtime. One was saved by the stonewall that is Connor Ingram, while the other clanked off the post, which resulted in this ensuing Coyotes possession:

A thing of beauty. 2-0. Shoutout hockey.

Record Tracker 📈

Mitch’s Favorite Picks 🔒

Avalanche -1.5 (+170 / DraftKings) — 0.75 units

Golden Knights @ Avalanche, 10 PM EST

This should be such a fun game. Two of the league’s heavyweights and the last two Stanley Cup champions. Vegas had an historic start to this season, jumping out to an 11-0-1 record.

Since then, they’ve gone a forgettable 12-12-4 and are 3-7-0 in their past ten contests. During this ten-game struggle, the Knights are averaging just 2.8 goals per game and allowing 3.9 — not a good recipe against an Avalanche team that is second in the league in goals per game this year (3.66) and is averaging 3.82 goals per game over its last ten games.

The Knights will be getting their top goalie, Adin Hill, back tonight, but he’s been out since early December, and this is a tough spot to get thrown back into. The Avs have been hot lately and are nearly unbeatable (17-5-0) at home this year. They’re a little too heavily favored on the money line to make that play worth it, so I’ll gladly ride with them at +170 for the -1.5 spread.

Flyers, TT over 3.5 goals (-104 / FanDuel) — 0.75 units

Canadiens @ Flyers, 7 PM EST

The Flyers have been at the epicenter of the hockey world the past couple days. In case you missed it, the Flyers traded their fifth overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a top-five prospect in the sport, Cutter Gauthier, to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for 21-year-old defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2nd-round pick. This was a big deal in part because of Gautheir’s status as a prospect, him having just recently led Team USA to gold at the World Juniors last week, and because of why and how the trade went down.

The long story short is Gauthier refused to play for the Flyers. He decided to enroll at Boston College and likely would have exhausted his eligibility there, giving him the power to spurn the Flyers and sign with another team. He told them that he had no interest in playing for them a while back and stuck with it. He has reportedly refused to answer anyone from the Flyers’ organization. So, they traded him.

Drysdale is an exciting young defenseman, a gifted skater, and has a solid offensive game. The defense will (hopefully) come. He’ll be making his debut tonight for the Flyers, and I think this is a perfect spot to back them.

They are, by all accounts, outperforming expectations so far. They were projected by most to be one of the worst teams in the league, but, as of right now, are sitting nicely in a playoff spot. However, they’ve been struggling mightily as of late, dropping seven of their past nine games.

The Flyers haven’t exceeded this total since Dec. 28 when they put up four goals in a victory over Vancouver, but I think this is a perfect spark plug game for them.

The Canadiens allow the seventh-most goals per game, have the fifth-worst penalty kill (lucky for them that Flyers are the worst team on the power play), allow the fourth-most shots per game and have the third-worst expected goals allowed per game.

Maybe there’s some bias from me with this play as a Flyers fan, but I think, for a John Tortorella-led team, this is a statement game if I’ve ever seen one.

Ani’s Favorite Picks 🔒

Bruce Brown, over 20.5 PTS + REB + AST (-108 / FanDuel) — 1 unit

Wizards @ Pacers, 7 PM EST

Without Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers will rely on Bruce Brown to be the primary ball handler. He is already averaging 11.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game this season, and that usage will skyrocket now.

The Wizards are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and this will be a fast-paced game. The total sits at 252 points, so Brown will be heavily involved in the offense. Brown has gone over this total in both games in which Haliburton didn’t start this year, including a 30-point effort against the Heat.

Benedict Mathurin, over 18.5 PTS (-102 / FanDuel) — 1.5 units | 20+ PTS (+110 / FanDuel) — 0.75 units | 25+ PTS (+310 / FanDuel) — 0.3 units

Wizards @ Pacers, 7 PM EST

An Indiana Pacers double dip for me tonight. Mathurin will be looked upon as the primary scorer for the Pacers without Haliburton. He was already scoring above 15 points in games off the bench and took the most shots for the Pacers when Haliburton went down with an injury in their last game.

Mathurin is averaging 14.7 points per game on the season and is averaging 15.8 points against the Wizards in his career.

Back Mathurin to have a big game against the Wizards tonight.

Devin Vassell, over 21.5 PTS (-114 / FanDuel) — 1.5 units

Spurs @ Pistons, 7 PM EST

The Pistons are one of the worst teams defending against the guard this season and this should be an entertaining game. The Spurs and Pistons are two of the worst teams in the NBA and Vassell will have no problems carving up Jaden Ivey and Killian Hayes.

Vassell is averaging 18.7 points this season and has scored at least 22 points in two straight contests. 

The Spurs are 3.5-point favorites and the game total sits at 238. I like Vassell to put up big numbers against the Pistons tonight.

Other Picks We Like

Travis Konecny, 5+ SOG (+192 / FanDuel) — 0.5 units

Canadiens @ Flyers, 7 PM EST

Nathan MacKinnon, 2+ PTS (-118 / FanDuel) — 0.75 units

Golden Knights @ Avalanche, 10 PM EST