*** NHL Oct 7, 2017 ***

Yesterday’s Picks: 3-0

Overall Record: 11-4

Pick of the Day Record: 2-0

Predictions for Today’s Games:

Colorado @ New Jersey – Colorado

NY Rangers @ Toronto – Toronto

Detroit @ Ottawa – Detroit

Tampa Bay @ Florida – Florida

Buffalo @ NY Islanders – Buffalo

Nashville @ Pittsburgh – Nashville

Montreal @ Washington – Washington

Minnesota @ Carolina – Minnesota

Dallas @ St. Louis – St. Louis

Columbus @ Chicago – Chicago

Vegas @ Arizona – Arizona

Edmonton @ Vancouver – Vancouver

Philadelphia @ Anaheim – Philadelphia

Winnipeg @ Calgary – Winnipeg

Los Angeles @ San Jose – San Jose

(Upset) Pick of the Day –

Vancouver over Edmonton

Call me crazy, but I was at the last Canucks preseason game against Edmonton (virtually each teams entire starting roster) and the Canucks looked like a team ready to move on from last years debacle. They played hard, and did not allow Edmonton to enter the zone and maintain pressure for long spurts. Now I know it was preseason, and the line matchups probably weren’t what they will be on Saturday night, but I feel like Vancouver is ready to start off on a high note (regardless or where they finish the season), and there is no better way to do it than to beat McDavid’s Oilers.

Don’t get me wrong, Connor McDavid has taken over as the best hockey player on Earth, and the Oilers are my choice to win the Stanley Cup this year. This game could just as easily be an Oilers blow out (my fantasy hockey team would appreciate it), but something tells me this game is going to go just as the last preseason game went. Hard fought, low scoring, and somehow, someway, the Canucks will pull out the major upset.

Prediction: Vancouver 3 Edmonton 2

(Actual) Pick of the Day –

Nashville over Pittsburgh

It may look like I am ragging on the Pens… and it’s true. There are tons of reasons why I feel Nashville will beat Pittsburgh, but let’s start with the most obvious… Revenge.

Pittsburgh beat Nashville in the Stanley Cup Finals, and don’t think that the Preds haven’t had this game circled on the calendar since it was released. Nashville will come flying out of the gates, and the besieged Penguins won’t have an answer.

Pittsburgh is exhausted. Two straight seasons of Stanley Cup wins means a whole lot of extra hockey. Coupled with the fact that this will be their third game in four nights, and the fact that both goalies saw action in the 10-1 drubbing; means that they will have little to no energy left by the time the puck drops.

I have also said this since the offseason; Pittsburgh is suffering the same fate as Chicago after their multiple Stanley Cups in that they have lost all of their secondary scoring. All of the players who have had great playoff runs have moved on to bigger contracts and different cities. Yes, they have Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel, and I imagine that if they all stay healthy they canprobably carry Pittsburgh to a ton of wins this season. However, on days where they can’t, I don’t foresee a ton of goals on a regular basis by their supporting cast.

Look for Rinne to shut the door for the majority of this game, and Murray to feel the effects of having to play back to back nights with only a day of rest between the 10-1 debacle and this game.

Prediction: Nashville 5 Pittsburgh 2

Shootout Candidate(s) –

Washington over Montreal / Detroit over Ottawa

I couldn’t decide over which game had more shootout potential, so I simply chose both.

Washington and Montreal both needed a shootout in their first games of the season to come out on top, and when you are pitting two of the best goalies on Earth against each other, there is a real possibility that this game will need (at the least) overtime, if not a shootout to decide a winner.

Look for Washington to edge out Montreal by a score of 2-1 in the shootout, as both goalies play remarkable for 65+ minutes.

For the Detroit and Montreal game, I feel like both teams find a way to stay in games, and both teams find a way to blow leads. This feels like one of those games – where Ottawa will have a lead late until Detroit ties it up and eventually prevails in the shootout.

Look for Detroit to come back late and edge Ottawa by a score of 5-4 in the shootout.

Shootout Candidate(s) –

Washington over Montreal / Detroit over Ottawa

I couldn’t decide over which game had more shootout potential, so I simply chose both.

Washington and Montreal both needed a shootout in their first games of the season to come out on top, and when you are pitting two of the best goalies on Earth against each other, there is a real possibility that this game will need (at the least) overtime, if not a shootout to decide a winner.

Look for Washington to edge out Montreal by a score of 2-1 in the shootout, as both goalies play remarkable for 65+ minutes.

For the Detroit and Montreal game, I feel like both teams find a way to stay in games, and both teams find a way to blow leads. This feels like one of those games – where Ottawa will have a lead late until Detroit ties it up and eventually prevails in the shootout.

Look for Detroit to come back late and edge Ottawa by a score of 5-4 in the shootout.