Hockey Teams to Bet For or Against

With less than 10 games left in the regular season, NHL teams are battling for playoff positions with fervor. Not all teams are being successful, while others are thriving; making their case they belong in the post-season. Here is what clubs to look for over the next couple of weeks for wagering purposes.

San Jose and Detroit are neck and neck for the best record in the NHL. The Sharks coach Todd McLellan and front office has real dilemma about what to do. Currently, San Jose has eight players injured. Do they try and rest these players to be as ready as possible and sacrifice home ice advantage to Detroit to get healthier or go full throttle and hope they don’t lose these players for a longer period? The schedule is rather favorable for the Sharks, with toughest games against Anaheim and Calgary. Watch the prices on San Jose and play on them, when comfortable.

With Detroit having won seven of last 10, they only have two road games remaining and are in great position to win the Presidents' Trophy (Best overall record). The Red Wings are 26-9 at home and are hoping either goalie Chris Osgood or Ty Conklin comes up big as postseason arrives. Detroit is much like the New York Yankees, meaning large money lines and when losses occur that can take a week to make up for. Still, with the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena, hard to not play them.

Quack, quack, that’s right the Anaheim Ducks are making noise having won six of last seven and for the moment are in the Western playoffs. The Ducks picked a swell time to play well and if they can keep it moving, they’ll make the postseason again. Standing in their way is a formidable group, which includes a pair of home and home contests with San Jose and Edmonton, who have their own motivation.

Carolina and Pittsburgh are flying to the finish, winners of seven of last 10 games. Each club has their sights set on passing Philadelphia, for the coveted home ice in the first round of the playoffs. The Hurricanes will play four of remaining six games at home, in arguably the loudest building in the NHL, where they have won nine in a row. The only issue is with the road games, both are at New Jersey.

Pittsburgh is starting to look like the team that went to the Stanley Cup a year ago, which suggests the Eastern Conference is in a whole lot of trouble. The Penguins have all their top level players healthy and playing to capabilities. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has been scintillating between the pipes. Fleury is 20-10-4 with three shutouts dating to New Year's Day. He has allowed two or fewer goals over at least 60 minutes in 17 of those games. It’s a pretty good bet Pittsburgh is for real.

Montreal is 10-15 since February began and looks like they are in turmoil. The ownership group is bleeding money and wants to sell the storied franchise. The Canadiens are barely hanging on in the East to final playoff slot, which is attributed to defense that is 11th on goals allowed in the conference. After playing next two games at home, Montreal will be on the road four of next five and closes the season back on home ice with Pittsburgh. The Canadiens are fortunate all the other teams fighting for last playoff position are playing as bad or worse than they are, thus they might sneak, but I wouldn’t want to bet on it.