New Jersey Devils at Ottawa Senators Betting Preview
Opening Moneyline: Devils -105 / Senators -115 O/U 5 goals
Time: 7:30 PM EST Tuesday January 26, 2010
This season Ottawa is 18-8-3 on the road and New Jersey is a solid 17-7-1 on the road.
In their last games the Senators beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Sunday and the Devils beat the New York Islanders 4-2 also on Sunday.
Ottawa is the hottest team in the Eastern Conference, as they have won 6 games in a row and have climbed into 2nd place in the Northeast Division trailing the Buffalo Sabres in the Northeast Division by 7 points.
The reasons the Senators have played so well lately is solid play from their offense and goalie play from Brian Elliot (30-14 2.67 GAA save percentage 90.3%). In his last 4 starts Elliot has been fantastic between the pipes with a GAA of only 1.25. In Ottawa's 6-game winning streak they have scored 20 goals and only given up 7.
The Devils have owned the Senators in the last couple years, as they have won 9 straight against Ottawa and they last time they lost to them was in October of 2007.
The Devils did win their last game, but they are only 5-5 in their last 10 games and now only lead the Pittsburgh Penguins by 2 points in the tough Atlantic Division.
The Devils are a great team on defense, as they have given up the fewest goals per game this season (2.18). They will need their D tonight, as their offense has struggled lately. Sure, they did score 4 goals in their last game, but in their previous 6 games had only scored 11 goals.
Zach Parise, who leads the Devils in goals (23) and points (51), has to help the Devils snap out of their offensive slump, which they hope ended in their last game.
If the Devils' offense, which ranks 17th in the league (2.64 goals per game) continues to struggle they will need another big game from G Martin Brodeur (48-31 2.17 GAA save percentage 92.2%), who ranks 5th in the league in GAA and 1st in wins. Brodeur is 3-0 against Ottawa this season.
This season Ottawa has given up more goals per game (2.85) than they have scored (2.70).
The Senators have to play good team offense in this game, as they do not have one player that ranks in the top 30 in the league in either points or goals.
New Jersey is 17-8 in their last 25 road games, the total has gone Under in 4 of their last 5 games, and have an Under record of 14-6-1 in their last 21 road games. Ottawa is 13-5 in their last 18 home games and the total has gone Under in their last 4 home games.
Our Selection : During Ottawa`s 6 game winning streak, they have only given up 7 goals. They now face the Devils who have a hard time scoring and play a very boring defensive style of game. Added the fact that they have the best goalie of all time in net almost every night in Marty Broduer, who can steal games for you when have trouble scoring more than 1 or 2 goals in a game. Not our favorite play, but 5Dimes posted the under at 5 goals +110. Take Under 5 goals +110
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
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The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.