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#1
Hockey is Backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk 
Despite my eagerness for wanting to play more I am gonna stay away from a big card on opening night and go with just the 1 play. Too many unknowns in the early going and a big season ahead so not gonna force anything this early. The Leafs/Habs came is a coin flip imo and I don't wanna lay juice that kind of juice on the Oilers.
The defending Stanley Cup Champs will begin their quest to become the first b2b Stanley Cup winners since the 97 Red Wings. The level of determination the Blackhawks played with from start to finish last season was incredible. The 24 game streak to open the season was truly remarkable. Sure you can talk about Stanley Cup hangovers, banner raising etc etc but I don't see a Joel Quienville type of hockey team coming out flat. He has his boys ready to play more times then not.
On the other side of the ice we got the Washington Capitals. They got of to a shaky start last season under new coach Adam Oates but they were very hot in the latter stages of the season earning including an 8-1-1 L10 stretch to wrap up the division. Washington has solid depth and I like what I see from them coming in. In a rare scheduling set up, these 2 teams played on Sunday night in Chicago with the Hawks prevailing in OT 4-3 on Andrew Shaw's winner. The fact the Capitals have been in Chicago since Saturday and never left makes me like this over play even more.
In the goaltending match up we will have Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby. Let's start off with Chicago's Corey Crawford. He has been a good goalie who has benefited from a good defense in front of him and I am just not 100% sold on him (call me crazy if u will). In an interesting start, Corey Crawford has worst #s at home then he does on the road. I am not just referring to last season either. In all 3 years as a start Crawford's been better away from the United Center. He will have a tough challenge ahead of him in the season opener against a good Washington offense. Crawford is the type of goalie you can always count on to give up a soft one or two. Meanwhile speaking of tough challenges, Braden Holtby will also be on the receiving end of one. Holtby will be facing the Stanley Cup Champs for the very first time in his career. I am sure likes of Toews, Kane, Hossa and Sharp would love to introduce themselves. The young goaltender shown signs of promise last season but with every young goalie consistency is the key. Holtby's goals against averaged raised, and his save % dropped while taken on his biggest work load yet. In the post season he had 3 awful games against the Rangers mixed in with 2 solid starts. Like many young goalies he was much better at home then he was on the road. He will have a tough task on Tuesday night trying to stop the Hawks.
Interesting too see if Washington's #1 PP will able to have success against a good Blackhawks PK
Also will be interesting too see if the Hawks PP with all that talent can be more dangerous then they were last season
I think we will skip the traditionally feeling out phase in this once since these 2 teams played on Sunday
4-2, 4-3 type of game imo, and can't go wrong with +105
My write ups wont always be this long but hey it's opening night
Best of Luck everyone
Despite my eagerness for wanting to play more I am gonna stay away from a big card on opening night and go with just the 1 play. Too many unknowns in the early going and a big season ahead so not gonna force anything this early. The Leafs/Habs came is a coin flip imo and I don't wanna lay juice that kind of juice on the Oilers.
Capitals @ Blackhawks O 5.5 (+105) 2 Units
The defending Stanley Cup Champs will begin their quest to become the first b2b Stanley Cup winners since the 97 Red Wings. The level of determination the Blackhawks played with from start to finish last season was incredible. The 24 game streak to open the season was truly remarkable. Sure you can talk about Stanley Cup hangovers, banner raising etc etc but I don't see a Joel Quienville type of hockey team coming out flat. He has his boys ready to play more times then not.
On the other side of the ice we got the Washington Capitals. They got of to a shaky start last season under new coach Adam Oates but they were very hot in the latter stages of the season earning including an 8-1-1 L10 stretch to wrap up the division. Washington has solid depth and I like what I see from them coming in. In a rare scheduling set up, these 2 teams played on Sunday night in Chicago with the Hawks prevailing in OT 4-3 on Andrew Shaw's winner. The fact the Capitals have been in Chicago since Saturday and never left makes me like this over play even more.
In the goaltending match up we will have Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby. Let's start off with Chicago's Corey Crawford. He has been a good goalie who has benefited from a good defense in front of him and I am just not 100% sold on him (call me crazy if u will). In an interesting start, Corey Crawford has worst #s at home then he does on the road. I am not just referring to last season either. In all 3 years as a start Crawford's been better away from the United Center. He will have a tough challenge ahead of him in the season opener against a good Washington offense. Crawford is the type of goalie you can always count on to give up a soft one or two. Meanwhile speaking of tough challenges, Braden Holtby will also be on the receiving end of one. Holtby will be facing the Stanley Cup Champs for the very first time in his career. I am sure likes of Toews, Kane, Hossa and Sharp would love to introduce themselves. The young goaltender shown signs of promise last season but with every young goalie consistency is the key. Holtby's goals against averaged raised, and his save % dropped while taken on his biggest work load yet. In the post season he had 3 awful games against the Rangers mixed in with 2 solid starts. Like many young goalies he was much better at home then he was on the road. He will have a tough task on Tuesday night trying to stop the Hawks.
Interesting too see if Washington's #1 PP will able to have success against a good Blackhawks PK
Also will be interesting too see if the Hawks PP with all that talent can be more dangerous then they were last season
I think we will skip the traditionally feeling out phase in this once since these 2 teams played on Sunday
4-2, 4-3 type of game imo, and can't go wrong with +105
My write ups wont always be this long but hey it's opening night
Best of Luck everyone 0
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