Premium NHL Picks: December 19th

We have two picks on this Sunday night:

LA Kings @ Chicago Blackhawks

Third meeting of the season between the Kings and the Hawks. Hawks won the first two meetings, one in Chicago and one in LA.

Kings surprised us last night as they swept aside Nashville Predators who had an impressive winning streak before last night. They scored the first goal of the match only 15 seconds into the game and once again they were able to protect the lead and win comfortably.

Chicago is still playing without Patrick Kane and he is not playing tonight either. They are also without Hossa. Hawks have only two wins in the last five games and two of those losses came on road. They also lost one game on home ice against the Colorado Avalanche which was the second loss last week against the Avs.

Hawks have an excellent record against the Kings. They are 7-1 in last 8 matchups and also a 5-0 record at United Center.

Kings should feel some fatigue tonight as they had a match last night which was the second game in last three days. Hawks took Saturday off after beating the Red Wings on Friday evening. 

I will go with Blackhawks tonight, they have been handling the Kings well lately. Kings don't have the best road record in the league which is 7-9-0 and 2-3-0 in last 10 games. 

PICK: CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS TO WIN [WIN]

2 units @ 1.70 

Washington Capitals @ Ottawa Senators

Who would have expected this? Capitals have lost 8 games in a row and they fell to third place in Southeast Division. Senators have won two of their last five games but they looked better in this span. Sens scored a total of 17 goals in lst 5 games which is remarkably better than their previous performances. They had a third period lead against the Colorado Avalanche but they couldn't avoid the 6-5 loss in the end. 

Caps seem to be struggling in scoring in latest games. This is incredible considering the number of offensive players in their squad. However, it's a fact and they have scored only 5 goals in last 5 games. It wasn't for the lack of trying. Capitals had at least 31 shots on goal in these last 5 defeats which they scored 2 goals the most and were shut out twice. They had a 41 shot performance in Boston but they still couldn't avoid a 3-2 loss while Boston had only 21 shots on goal.

I am expecting Capitals to bounce tonight and get some help from the offense after five poor games. Senators are 4-1 in last 5 games against the Capitals and they seem to get better in scoring as of late. 

I like the OVER in this one. I believe Caps will explode offensively and Senators should be able to take advantage of Capitals defensive problems. 5 of last 6 games between these teams went OVER by the way...

PICK: OVER 5,5 GOALS [LOSS]

2 units @ 1.91