Premium NHL Pick : January 29

Today we have one premium pick:

Toronto Maple Leafs @ NJ Devils:

The first meeting between these teams and both teams have been struggling of late. Toronto Maple Leafs dropped their last four games and the Devils have lost three of last five and both the last two. Devils lost to the Buffalo Sabres in their last game at the HSBC Arena. They had a pretty good performance against the Sabres but 40 shots on Ryan Miller only was able to produce one goal and it was only good for one point. Miller was the shoot out hero for the Sabres to win the game 2-1.

Leafs were home against the road warriors Los Angeles Kings and the final score was 5-3 in favor of the LA Kings. The scoring difficulties continue for the Leafs as they have been able to produce only 5 goals in their last 3 games. They conceded a total of 10 in this span. Special teams also have been a big part of the problem as the Leafs went 2 for 19 on the man advantage and allowed 5 powerlay goals in last 3 games.

Leafs are without defenders Mika Van Ryn and Mike Komisarek as well as forward Grabovski while the Devils are without some key players, forwards Patrik Elias, David Clarkson and defenseman Paul Martin.

Devils, despite the shoot out loss, played very well against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. They had 40 shots on Ryan Miller but failed to score more than 1 goal. That was a pretty good reaction to Tuesday's shut out loss to the Ottawa Senators. Just like the Leafs they haven't been good on powerplays too. Having scored only 1 powerplay goal in last 5 games, Devils should try something else on the man advantage plays.

Devils despite late struggles like the home loss against the Canadiens last week, still have the second best home defense in this league. 2.2 GAA at the Prudential Center is pretty good compared to Leafs road defense which allows 3.8 goals per game.

Martin Brodeur will start again for the Devils tonight while we see Gustavsson between the posts for the visiting team. Brodeur has 31 wins in 50 games so far and has a 2.17 GAA. He looked good at the HSBC Arena but he has not been at his best in recent games (allowing 3 goals in 2 of the last 5). Gustavsson allowed 15 goals in last 5 games and his GAA is 2.98 per game.

As both teams have been losing back to back games, they will both be wanting to win this one but the Devils defense is very good at the Prudential Center with a goaltender like Martin Brodeur. I can see them winning this one in regulation.

PREMIUM NHL PICK: NEW JERSEY DEVILS TO WIN [in Regulation]

1.72 @ Bodog.com

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