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April 2nd Hockey news ... NHL Betting Online at nhl-betting-online.com
Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays Game 1
2021-10-05
Odds: Tampa Bay -128, Texas +118, Total: 7
Ace southpaws take the mound Wednesday afternoon in game one of the Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays divisional series. The Rangers’ Cliff Lee and Rays’Davie Price have been stellar in their postseason careers. Lee is 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA and Price carries a 1.59 ERA in five playoff relief appearances. Tampa Bay has won the past four meetings. Here is a complete breakdown of the pitching matchup:
CLIFF LEE
12-9, 3.18 ERA in 2010
Lee’s team is 15-13 (-5.1 Units) when Lee starts in 2010. The Under covered in 15 of these 28 starts.
6 GS, 3-2, 3.86 ERA, .225 Opp. BA at Tropicana Field in career
13 GS, 6-5, 2.87 ERA, .228 Opp. BA career vs. TB
5 GS, 4-0, 1.56 ERA, 0.82 WHIP in postseason career
DAVID PRICE
19-6, 2.72 ERA in 2010
Tampa Bay is 23-8 (+10.7 Units) when Price starts in 2010. The Under covered in 17 of these 31 starts (13 Over, 1 Push).
9-2, 1.96 ERA, .206 Opp. BA at Tropicana Field in 2010
4 GS, 0-2, 7.45 ERA, 1.66 WHIP career vs. TEX
5 G, 1-0, 1.59 ERA, 1.06 WHIP in postseason career
Both pitchers have had great seasons and are clutch post-season performers. The Rays have to be worried about Price’s 7.45 ERA and 1.66 WHIP in four career starts against the Rangers top-notch lineup.
This betting trend supports Tampa Bay bettors for Wednesday’s match-up:
Play On - Home teams with a money line of -100 to -150 (TAMPA BAY) - average offensive team (4.7 to 5.2 runs/game) against a good starter (ERA<=4.20) (AL), with a starting pitcher whose gives up 5.5 or less hits/start. (53-12 over the last 5 seasons.) (81.5%, +38.3 units. Rating = 5*).
While this trend sides with bettors that are backing the Under:
TAMPA BAY is 13-1 UNDER (+11.9 Units) after 3 straight games where the bullpen gave up no runs this season. The average score was TAMPA BAY 2.9, OPPONENT 2.7 - (Rating = 4*).
For more betting trends and to wager on the MLB Playoffs, head over to now.
NHL: Philadelphia small favorite to force Game 7
2021-06-09
Even the best of players will have an off day. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant haven’t always dominated every finals game they played in and Sidney Crosby and Steve Yzerman were not always the best player on the ice game after a game in the Stanley Cup finals they played in. After four marvelous outings against Chicago, the Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger had one of those games. He and the rest of his teammates hope to bounce back and even the Stanley Cup Finals series at three games apiece when they host the Blackhawks. Philly is a -120 betting line favorite according to , but all indications are the money is coming in on Chicago.
Pronger, who’s been dishing legal and illegal hits for years, was pounded a few different times by Blackhawks’ players in Game 5 and ended up -5 for his time on the ice in the 7-4 defeat.
Credit Chicago coach Joel Quenneville for creative line switches that appeared desperate before the game and brilliant after it. Quenneville broke up his top scoring line of line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien after they had totaled one goal and three assists in the first four contests of the Finals, mostly facing Pronger when on the attack.
Each player was placed on a different line and Pronger and the entire Flyers defense was thrown off. The 6’6 blue-liner was singled out since he had been such a pain to Chicago, being on the ice for six of the Blackhawks goals and in the penalty box for the other. Philly is 4-10 after playing a game where nine or more total goals were scored this season.
Pronger has logged the most ice time of any player in the series and having two days off should refresh him, plus Philadelphia is 24-7 at home since the midpoint of the regular season. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette will work to combat his club’s off night and remind them the home team has won every contest in the series thus far, so by just playing Philadelphia hockey, they can extend series one more game.
After Chicago’s overwhelming performance, the sports bettor has to use his polyhistoric references and realize though the Hawks won the last game, realistically, neither team has the momentum.
Chicago as least psychologically feels good having laid out Pronger a few times and possibly shaken the confidence of goalie Michael Leighton, who reportedly is not a sure thing to start in goal for this encounter. Expect to see Leighton between the pipes since he is 6-0 at the Wachovia Center and his teammates are 9-1.
The Blackhawks are 19-3 off a home win scoring four or more goals this season and are starting to feel like they might have found something. “I think we've been looking for that throughout the whole series,” Kane said. “With him (Pronger) on the ice, he's a big guy, but we feel we can get around him and make some good plays.
Though Pronger has been a huge part of the discussion between games, his coach adds perspective. “I think if we look just for Chris Pronger to do it, everybody will be in trouble," Laviolette said. "We are a team that, by all accounts, we win together, and usually it's a team effort. And when we lose, well, we do it as a team. Everybody could have been a little bit better last night. I'm sure Chris will have a big game and lead the way, but others -- we need to make sure that we have all hands on deck."
This all leads to Philly being a -120 money line favorite and they’ve won their last five when handing out -150 or less. Don’t expect Chicago to go quietly since they are 11-2 as underdogs in previous 13 tries and with total Ov5.5, the Hawks are 6-0 OVER in road games after both teams scored four goals or more this year. The Flyers will look to batten down the hatches and are 11-3 UNDER after permitting five goals or more.
NBC and the CBC will have Game 6 at 8:00 Eastern as Philadelphia tries to extend home winning streak over Chicago to 11, dating back to March of 1998. The StatFox Power Line shows Chicago should be a -116 favorite
NHL: Is Philadelphia finished?
2021-06-02
The Flyers gave a much better overall accounting of themselves in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals and actually dominated the last 20 minutes, but they don’t hand out Stanley Cups for trying. You have to win four games to take home this trophy, which is proving to be a large dilemma in Philadelphia right now. The Flyers will look to get back in the series when they host Chicago in Game 3 on Wednesday night as -130 favorites, according to .
The Flyers outshot Chicago 15-4 in the last period and against 80 percent of the teams in the NHL they would have won the last stanza 3-0 or more, however not every team has a goalie like Antti Niemi between the pipes, as he made a handful of incredible saves to keep Philly shooters out of the net but once.
Philadelphia has remorse for not playing with the same passion the entire contest.
"I thought we were way too conservative in the first two periods," Philadelphia forward Danny Briere said. "We didn't give them much, I understand that. But it's not really our type of hockey. We didn't forecheck. We didn't create much offensively. We didn't spend much time in their zone." This left the Flyers 6-18 against good passing teams averaging five or more assists per game this season.
What was particularly painful was letting down at the exact wrong moment. Ben Eager, a former Flyer, is a high energy enforcer who was moved from fourth line duty to the first line by coach Joel Quenneville with Jonathan Toews and Dustin Byfuglien, just seconds after Marian Hossa had broken scoreless tie.
Philadelphia had done exceptional work in keeping the Blackhawks top unit down and Quenneville wanted an individual to mix it up, especially after he had flatten a couple of Philly players earlier in the game.
However, Chicago wouldn’t be 44-21 off a home win had it not been for netminder Niemi. The 26-year rookie has exceptional flexibility and he needed it throughout the third period with the Philly barrage. “We call him the octopus because he's got arms and legs going everywhere," Chicago forward Adam Burish said. "He was special tonight. Niemi was unbelievable in that third period. Some of the pucks, I don't know how he saw them."
Philadelphia might be dire straits (teams that sweep the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals are 31-2), however they are in familiar territory (think Boston series) and have leaders like Chris Pronger upon returning home where they are 22-7 the second half of the season.
"Yeah, I think we need to play with more desperation than we did, like the third period," Pronger said. "We need to play with that passion, energy, drive, determination, like we did in the third through the whole game. It needs to be 60 minutes."
The Flyers are 7-1 in the tournament at the Wachovia Center and 9-1 in last 10 since April 4. has Philadelphia as -130 money line play with total lowered to Ov5.5.
With the unbalanced schedule in place, this will be just Chicago’s 10th visit to the City of Brotherly Love in 14 years and they have one win in the time span. The Blackhawks are 20-5 after playing exactly two consecutive home games this season and 8-1 UNDER in road tilts riding a six-game or more win streak.
The Flyers have lived dangerously almost all season, with their margin for error thinner than a skate blade and are 6-14 revenging consecutive losses to opponent as a favorite. The Flyers are 8-1 UNDER off a road failure by one goal this season.
The first game in Philly has an 8:00 Eastern start on NBC, with Chicago having won seven straight on the playoff road.
The StatFox Power Line shows the wrong team is favored, Chicago -123
NHL: Philadelphia to test Montreal’s mettle again
2021-05-24
Going into Monday’s potential Eastern Finals clincher, the Philadelphia Flyers already know a couple of different things. The first is with a win, they will be playing for the Stanley Cup championship and second, who their opponent will be, the Chicago Blackhawks. However, before thinking too far ahead, Philadelphia has to take down the peskiest team in the tournament, Montreal. The Flyers are -180 home favorites to do so according to .
“With each series, it obviously gets harder and harder, but I don’t think you can look past that next game and that next win,” Philadelphia defenseman Chris Pronger said. “You’ve got to focus on closing out a team and being closers. We’ve got a team now down 3-1. We’ve got to get that fourth win.
“We’ve got to understand what it’s going to take, because they’re obviously a team that’s had their backs against the wall throughout the course of this playoff, through Washington and Pittsburgh, and they’ve been able to rally and come back. We obviously want to stymie that and make sure we’re putting our foot on the throat.”
The Flyers have won 21 of their last 28 home games and can advance to the Cups Finals for the first time in 13 years with a fourth and deciding victory over the Canadiens. Philadelphia is well aware the danger Montreal presents, having seen them come from behind against the Capitals and Penguins to win series and their 5-0 record in elimination games.
“We have to be careful,” Flyers forward Danny Briere said. “If there’s a team that would know that, it’s us, with what we were able to do in the previous round to the Bruins, and also what Montreal did to Washington and Pittsburgh. We’re definitely not going to take them for granted. There’s still one big win.
“We always say the fourth one or the last one is always the toughest to get against a team. We expect them to come out with a lot of desperation in Game 5, but at the same time, yes, we know we’re getting closer.” The Flyers know a thing or two about desperation, having trailed 3-0 to Boston before winning the next four.
Philadelphia has now won seven of last eight and shutout Montreal three times in the series with domineering defense and the fine goaltending of Michael Leighton, who only had to face 17 shots in last contest (one in the second period).
“One of our main goals was to play better defensively and I don't know how many times they came down the wing trying to fire pucks at me, and we had our 'D' men who stuck their stick out and it went up in the crowds," Leighton said. "We talked right before the game and said we want to block as many shots and stop them charging the net and we did. We definitely showed up to play."
For the Habs, the situation certainly appears bleak, but it is far from over as far as they are concerned, with their 9-4 record off a home loss by three or more goals. “We put ourselves in this hole and it is what it is. We’ve got to go and win a game,” Montreal defenseman Hal Gill said.
has Philly as a -180 money line favorite with total Ov5 and they are 20-7 as home ice favorites. They will arrive at Game Five 10-4 UNDER in home games after a win by two goals or more this season. Montreal will try and manufacture one more miracle and is 11-5 after being defeated by three or more goals and is 10-3 UNDER on the road after scoring one goal or less this campaign.
The East Final has a 7:00 Eastern start on VERSUS and CBC and if Philadelphia does emerge victorious, one person who deserves a lot of credit is Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette.
It took him until the last few weeks of the regular season to convince this team how good it can be and he never let them get down on themselves in the Bruins series. After tonight, Philadelphia might be thinking about bringing home first Stanley Cup title since 1975.
StatFox Power Line – Philadelphia -174
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