Premium NHL Pick : January 23 #1

We have two games starting early in the league today. It is yet another crazy Saturday as we will watch NHL action all day and night long.

Here is our first of the three premium picks of the day:

CAROLINA HURRICANES @ PHILADELPHIA FLYERS:

Preview

Third meeting between the clubs this season. Flyers won both of the games before this one. This will be the second meeting at the Wachovia Center. Canes will try to forget the first one in October which ended 6-1 in favour of the Flyers.

Philadelphia Flyers have gradually gotten better since the coach change and they have been very strong at the Wachovia Center. When we look at their last 10 games, we see the Flyers going 6-3-1 and they have gone 5-0-0 on home ice. That shows how this team have been playing in Philadelphia.

Canes are coming off a remarkable win over the Atlanta Thrashers on road. It was their only 5th road victory and they still stay as the worst road team in the National Hockey League.

Injuries

Carolina Hurricanes are going to be without forwards Erik Cole, Tuomo Ruutu, Scott Walker and defender Joe Corvo as all of these players are out indefinitely.

Flyers are pretty much healthy but they are still without defensemen Ryan Parent and Danny Syvret.

Daniel Briere has been getting some rest as the player did not practice in the last two days but he said he would be ready to play today.

Keys to Flyers victory

Despite the rising form of the Cans who have gone 4-2 in their last 6 games on road, they still remain as the worst road team in the league. They have also not been good against the Flyers in recent seasons, going 4-12-2 in last 18 games in Philadelphia.

Flyers powerplay has been getting better and better and they are ranked the 3rd best team in the league right now with a 23.8% success rate on powerplays. This could make an impact today as Canes are worst team in staying outside the penalty box. They allow the most powerplays in the league at 4.3 per game. When you make just a statistical prediction, you can see the Flyers score at least one powerplay goal today.

Flyers also need to stay away from the penalty box. They are almost as bad as the Canes with 4.2 powerplays allowed per game.

Goalies

Ray Emery is expected to start again today against the Canes. As for the Canes we see Cam Ward taking a break and Manny Legace is going to start. Emery is 13-9-1 this season and he has a GAA of 2.81  goals per game.

Canes' 34 year old goaltender Legace is 4-5-2 this season and he has not started since December 12th game against the Ottawa Senators when the Canes lost with Legace stopping 35 of 38 shots. I am not sure how he will perform tonight but it has been over a month he has not started and it could be a little difficult for him.

CONCLUSION & PICK

I have enjoyed watching the Flyers play at the Wachovie Center in their latest games. They seem to have a good understanding of keeping a balance between offensive and defensive mentality. That's what Peter Laviolette is good at. He doesn't like giving up too many goals so he has fixed this team's defensive problems. It didn't work too well on road against the Caps and Leafs but it's been working well on home ice allowing only 10 goals in last 6 games. Both teams played on Thursday so it will be the same conditions for both sides. Switching to Manny Legace looks risky for the Carolina Hurricanes but they had to give Cam Ward some rest as the goaltender has played 5 games in 9 days. Canes have trouble staying off the penalty box and it may just make things easier for the Flyers today.

Premium NHL Pick: Philadelphia Flyers to win [Regulation - 3 way bet]

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Outcome: