This is courtesy of one of the best users on FansUnite! The great TMussolani: My tracked and verified record is available here - https://fansunite/profile/TMussolani *Thursday Night Football: New England Patriots vs. New York Jets* I’m not an NFL guru, by any stretch, but have quietly gone 15-6 this season for a 36% ROI. The reason I say I’m not a guru is because my knowledge of the game is not nearly as high as many members of the forum. My thoughts are more general then focusing on positions, simply because I don’t know the personnel well enough. For example, I may say, their O-line has been poor, instead of saying their Center is a first year pro and has been overmatched. Anyways, back to the game. Since everyone started calling for Tom Brady’s head after the Kansas City debacle, the Patriots have put together two impressive games. They shellacked the Bengals before dispatching the Bills. In both games, the total sailed over the number, even though it is similar to tonight’s posted total. I’m not sure if I have quite as much faith in LaFell as Brady seems to have, but his emergence still doesn’t provide me with a ton of optimism in the Patriot’s receiving corps. It’s great to see Gronkowski looking good again, and I’m sure he will have a big game, but you can only target him so many times. With Ridley’s injury, I’m not sure how the Patriots RB situation is going to be. Everyone is calling for White to take his place, or wait, are they calling for Bolden, or was it Jonas Grey from the practice squad?? I have no clue, maybe it will be Vereen finally getting more touches. Whoever it is, chances are the running game is going to be less effective then it would have been with Ridley as a part of it. The Jets have had their issues all season, but they looked pretty good against Denver. They were never going to win that game, but they had a good chance at maintaining the cover ATS before Geno threw up a terrible pass that Aqib Talib took to the endzone. Nothing they do really impresses me, and I think they are going to struggle to get many yards against a Patriot team that is looking very motivated since their media turned on them. The weather is supposed to be quite poor tonight, and that is going to make the offenses even more interesting. I’m going to take **Under 44.5 Points @ 1.90 as my Pick of The Day** *NHL: Dallas Stars @ Pittsburgh Penguins* Well, first of all, this is more of a value play then anything. I do think the Dallas Stars will win, and I think it’s a greater than 50% chance they do. So, the odds I’m getting on this game make sense for me. I was a little weary of the Stars after their game 4-1 loss to Nashville, but they seem to have gotten things moving in the right direction after their last game, a 4-2 road victory over Columbus. I like the fact that they were out PP/PK 4-1, but still managed to get 35 shots on the Blue Jackets goal. Seguin and Benn woke up, and they still have Spezza looking to get going. I’d prefer if Nichuskin was available, but nevertheless, I think Dallas are one of the more underrated rosters in the league. I think we are going to make a lot of money betting on them this year. They have a good coach and play an agitating style, while still having some superstars in Benn and Seguin. Pittsburgh haven’t played for five days, which is a little unusual to start the season. It hasn’t seemed to bother them though. They have managed 11 goals in their first two games. I think it’s a little misleading, however. They blitzed Pittsburgh native John Gibson in their first game against Anaheim, for 6 goals. Honestly, the rookie looked a little frazzled and wasn’t his usual self. Then they beat up on Toronto, 5-2. The Leafs look a lot better now than they did in that game, so I think some of the result is due to the Leafs not having a good game. That being said, credit must be given to the Pens. They are a terrific team themselves. Like I said, I like the value, so I’m going to take the **Dallas Stars to win @ 2.50** *NHL: Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens* Montreal were embarrassed last time out against Tampa Bay, a game that they were blasted for 7 goals in. I expect to see a completely different side, now that they are playing at home and against a massive rival. At minimum, the Bell Center will be absolutely rocking. The last matchup between these two sides was last year in the playoffs, where during the handshake line, Lucic said “Next time, I’ll kill you”. The Canadiens have depth throughout their lineup, and I expect catalyst Subban to be amped up for this one. Of course, what happens sometimes when he gets excited is that he is all over the ice, both offensively and defensively. Carey Price has not had a good start in goal this year, so while I expect him to do better, I don’t think he is in the right groove to shut down the Bruins. David Krecji has come back after injury and has added much needed depth and balance to the Bruins offense. Last time out, a 3-2 shootout victory over Detroit, they had 39 shots for and were all over the Red Wings. They looked much better in that match than they have at any time this season. All of these factors are pointing me in the direction of goals. I think we are going to see a 3-2 game at minimum, which would be a push. I like the chances of even more. I’m going to take **Over 5 Goals @ 1.92** *NHL: San Jose Sharks vs. New York Islanders* We have a couple of undefeated teams here, and something’s got to give and I think its the Sharks. Sharks didnt impress me last game against the Caps. They were just able to run unto a goalie who had an off day. They were up 3 goals twice and squandered it but were able to pull it off in the shootout. After the poor performance by Niemi, Stalock will get the nod after blanking the Jets in his first game. He is an impressive goalie and should probably take the starting role after this year so Im not taking into account that the Sharks are playing their backup this game, hes extremely competent. The Islanders are quietly looking very impressive this year and the line of Nelson - Tavares - Okposo has started off great. With the addition of Boychuk and Leddy, right before the season kicked off, they have one of the best defensive corps in the East. Halak is a streaky but solid goalie, and he has looked good in recent games. The Islanders are looking to go 4-0 for the first time in 13 years, and will be eager to measure themselves against one of the past decade’s top teams. We can throw away the stat that the Sharks are 5-0-1 in their last 6 against the Isles as these are completely different conferences. These teams dont play too often and the Islanders are a completely different team from two years ago and are a team on the rise, Im bullish on the Long Island boys tonight. My pick is the **New York Islanders to win @ 2.01** *NHL: Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers* The Rangers are looking to end a 3 game skid and a matchup against the Canes is exactly what they need. They had poor outings in their last couple games with sloppy mistakes, poor defence and poor goaltending. Vigneault is a very good defensive coach and he will tighten up the ship quickly for the reigning Eastern Conference champs. Lundqvist will show his abilities tonight at MSG. He is the definition of a competitor. On the other side of the ice, the Canes are just dismal. Injuries to Jordan Staal, Jeff Skinner and most recently Eric Staal leave them pretty thin on offence and its showed with three straight losses. The effort was there in the third period of their last game but this lineup isnt going to cut it in the NHL these days. The Rangers have won 11 of the past 12 against the Canes and have limited them to just one goal in 6 of those wins. Lundqvist seems to have their number and Im expecting big bounce back game for him. If Nash and the Rangers can put away 2-3 goals, this should an easy win to get the Rangers back on track. I’m going to take the **New York Rangers to win in regulation @ 1.68** *NHL: New Jersey Devils vs. Washington Capitals* With Washington facing the 3-0 Devils, this is probably not a game a lot of people are excited to jump on, but I like the Capitals chances here to win at home. They had a pretty uncharacteristic outing in their last game against the Sharks, giving up 5 goals and eventually losing in a shootout. The team showed some resiliency coming back from a 3 goal deficit to take a point and I’m looking for that to spill over into tonight’s home game. Holtby has been tabbed the starter and should bounce back tonight while Ovie and the rest of the Capitals are really starting to look great. Ovechkin is finding the back of the net with regularity, and that carries over through the rest of the squad. I’m confident that coach Barry Trotz will make sure his team doesnt give up 5 goals again and plays a sound defensive game, while the scorers up front take care of business.The Devils are ending their 4 game road trip to start the season and already have 3 wins in their pocket.. An impressive victory in Tampa a few days ago will have their confidence high but the Devils are a middle of the pack team. The Caps havent gone 0-3 at home to start a season for 31 years, and I’m confident on it being 32 years after they handle the Devils tonight. I’m going to take the **Washington Capitals to win @ 1.82**
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:46:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015