Posted on
4/10/2008 1:59:48 PM
NHL Ice Hockey Betting – Playoff Free Picks
By Dave Golokhov
Nashville Predators @ Detroit Red Wings
According to the sports betting community, if they had to pick a series lock, it would be the Detroit Red Wings over the Nashville Predators.
The Red Wings won the President’s Trophy and led the NHL in points for the third time in four seasons. But interestingly enough, although they have quite the collection of President’s Trophies, they have followed up with a Stanley Cup only once afterwards.
Detroit has to be careful, though. The last time they won the President’s Trophy they fell in the first round to a team who had essentially been playing playoff hockey for months in advance to the playoffs. They will face another team like that – the Nashville Predators – in their opening series.
The Predators fended off the Vancouver Canucks and others for the final playoff berth and finished the regular season 5-0-1 in their last six games.
Dan Ellis has been outstanding in net for the Predators in the final month of the season. He set the longest shutout streak of the season during the last month of the season and enters the playoffs on a high.
The Red Wings won the regular season series 5-3 and shouldn’t have much trouble winning four more against the Preds.
Free Pick: Detroit -550
Dallas Stars @ Anaheim Ducks
The Dallas Stars won five of eight regular season matchups with the Anaheim Ducks but they didn’t want to face the defending Stanley Cup Champions in the opening round of the playoffs.
But the Stars finished the season on a down, compiling a 4-8-2 record in their last 13 games. Two of those losses were to Anaheim.
Dallas will be without their best defenseman, Sergei Zubov, for at least the first few games of the series as he recovers from a sports hernia. Their goaltender, Marty Turco, will also have to deal with the stigma of being a playoff choker. He was outstanding last year in the series loss to Vancouver however needs to string together a few playoff series wins to get the monkey off his back.
The Ducks were 20-5-1 since Teemu Selanne returned to the team and look more and more like a team on a mission to repeat. They will also be without a key forward as second-leading scorer Corey Perry isn’t expected to return until later in the series.
The Stars have lacked chemistry since acquiring Brad Richards while the Ducks have become stronger since the flip of the calendar. This is a matchup of two teams heading in opposite directions.
Free Pick: Anaheim -240
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