Posted on 4/10/2008 5:46:31 PM

NHL Furious Playoff Picks 2008 - Eastern Conference Matchups

By Tim Furious

Nashville Predators (41-32-9) vs. Detroit Red Wings (54-21-7)

Thursday, April 10th --- Joe Louis Arena, Detroit --- 7:00pm EST

NHL Betting Line: Detroit -260

Can someone in the sports betting community tell me why anyone thinks Nashville has a chance against the Wings? Is it Dan Ellis, the surprising goal tender for Nashville who steadied the Preds to 2.79 goals against and brought them to a 22-14 SU record as favorites? Perhaps. It’s obvious that management knew what they had when they let Tomas Vokoun walk to the Panthers. But beating a team like Detroit, which was an underdog only seven times this season (due to injuries) is a tall order. For the Predators especially.

Detroit was a top-3 team in both offense and defense, with a goal differential of +0.9 in their favor. That’s virtually absurd. And with two strong goalies with boat loads of playoff experience, it’s hard to imagine Nashville finding the twine enough times to keep up with the offensive potential of Detroit. The red-hot Wings won 7-of-9 games SU heading in to the playoffs, while pinning 5-of-7 games in the UNDER. On top of that, they’ve lost only 12 games at home this year. And as mentioned before, those losses were largely due to the vanishing act that their defense administered due to injury.

Don’t be stupid, betting investor. Bet faithfully on Detroit in the UNDER in what I predict will be a clean sweep. Nashville, and I am going to repeat this vehemently, is NOT the Anaheim Ducks of 2003. They’re not going to be surprising underdogs that steamroll to the playoffs. No, this is not a lashing out because they named their home rink the Summit Arena after it was so enjoyably called the Gaylord. I’m not that shallow.

NHL Furious Free Picks: Detroit (UNDER)

Boston Bruins (41-29-12) vs. Montreal Canadiens (47-25-10)

Thursday, April 10th --- Bell Centre, Montreal --- 7:00pm EST

NHL Betting Line: Montreal -210

Montreal has ten straight victories over the Bruins. Ten. If there’s one team you don’t want to face in the first round, it’s the team you’ve never been able to beat. And don’t give me any excuse here. The Bruins are winless in eight meetings with the Habs, meaning that they have terrible mojo and an inexplicably incapable coaching staff that can’t solve the Habs. Oh wait, Claude Julien was the coach of the Canadiens before? Wow. That’s like an ex-girlfriend consistently kicking you in the balls and you never figuring out a way to stop her.

Anyways, if you want stats, Montreal has 3.20 goals per game, good enough for tops in the league and have rallied behind the young goalie, Carey Price, who has become a force to be reckoned with in-between the pipes. Montreal allows 31.57 shots defensively, but they cut down on quality and teams get desperate and launch low-chance pucks against the Canadiens with hope (which is pretty pathetic if you ask me).

Boston can’t have all the luck, so I’m counting on Montreal and the hockey gods proving that there is balance and equality in the hockey world by proving that Boston simply can’t have all the luck in the world. Bet on Montreal in the UNDER. For now, I’m taking the UNDER in almost any NHL playoff game considering that Pittsburgh lambasted Ottawa last night and stayed under the five-goal mark. Go Habs Go.

NHL Furious Free Picks: Montreal (UNDER)

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