Premium NHL Pick : December 29 #1

First NHL pick of the day

Vancouver Canucks @ Phoenix Coyotes:

Surprise of the season, the Coyotes will try to make it another win on home ice tonight when they face the Canucks. Canucks are feeling great too as they have just beaten the Calgary Flames at the Pengrowth Saddledome on Sunday.

Canucks have won four of their last five and all of their last three games. They have conceded one goal per game in their last three and a total of 8 goals in their last 5. That's mainly due to their penalty killing performance as of late. Canucks have killed of 14 of the last 15 penalties and they have scored at least one powerplay goal in their last three.

As for the Coyotes, they are one of the best teams on home ice. They have won 15 of their 20 home games this season and they won nine straight at the Jobing.com Arena.

The good thing about the Coyotes is that they still played good even when they lost games this month. Take last night's game for example. They were 2-0 down midway through the second period but they fought back and equalized the game before the second intermission. They had great chances of winning the game in overtime but they were denied by Nabokov and by the post on one occasion. That's a very good sign for a team.

Scottie Upshall has scored three goals in his last five games and captain Shane Doan is the leader of this team with 25 points. As for the Canucks, Raymond was on fire on Sunday against the Flames as he scored three goals. Sedin's are good as usual.

There are no new injuries for these teams as the Canucks are still without Demitra, Johnson, Grabner and Schneider. Coyotes are going to be without Kurt Sauer who is out indefinitely and Daniel Winnik who is also out for a long time.

This won't be an easy game tonight. Coyotes can make it ten straight victories at home but they will have to play excellent against this Canucks team. I am expecting them to do just that.

PREMIUM NHL PICK: PHOENIX COYOTES TO WIN [MONEYLINE]

2.10 @ Bodog.com

Outcome: