Premium NHL Picks: December 18th

Today we have five picks.

Phoenix Coyotes @ NY Islanders

Coyotes are 8-5-3 on road this season and they are coming to this game with only two wins in last five games. They played three games on road in this span and won only one of them which was against the Ducks. 

Islanders are still at the bottom of the NHL standings and they have got only 4 wins at home this season. 4-7-2 record and it's not getting much better with the long injury list. Tonight, Islanders will have AHL goaltender Nathan Lawson who has a 3.78 GAA in the AHL.

Coyotes will give Bryzgalov some rest as he has flu. LaBarbera was not bad against the Rangers despite the 4-3 loss. I like the Coyotes in this one. They have been pretty good on road and Islanders have a depleted squad and a bad home record.

I have two picks for this game.

PHOENIX COYOTES TO WIN [ML] [WIN]

3 units @ 1.66

and

OVER 5 GOALS [WIN]

3 units @ 1.66

NJ Devils @ Atlanta Thrashers

Unlike previous seasons, Devils have been one of the worst teams on road this season. They are 4-12-0 on road overall and they dropped all of their last four away games.

Devils suffered another defeat at the hands of Nashville on home ice yesterday after blanking the Coyotes 3-0 on Wednesday. That was the single victory for them in last 11 days.

Thrashers are having a bad time too. They got only two wins in last five games and they lost their latest game on home ice to the Carolina Hurricanes. They had season high 47 shots on goal but Cam Ward was impressive and stopped 45 of them to win the game for the visitors.

Mark Fraser, Josefson, Parise, Salmela, Salvador and Taormina are all out for the NJ team while Atlanta Thrashers are 100% healthy.

Devils are 5-0 SU in last 5 games in Atlanta but I will side with the home team tonight. They are having a good season and they allow only 2.4 Goals per game at home with Pavelec's 1.80 GAA.

PICK: ATLANTA THRASHERS TO WIN [Moneyline] [WIN]

3 units @ 1.64 

Dallas Stars @ Columbus Blue Jackets

After a rare defeat at home and also against the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars are heading to Columbus to meet with the Jackets for the second time this season.

Jackets had won the first meeting 12 days ago with a 3-2 score.

Blue Jackets are 2-9 in last 11 games but 6 of those losses came on road. They were still 2-1-1 on home ice which made their home record 9-6-1 which is not too bad. Stars are 3-2-1 on road in last 10 games.

When the Jackets played at home for the last time, last Saturday, they beat the Rangers 3-1. Then came three losses on road, respectively against the Calgary Flames, Canucks and finally Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Garon is going to make the start in Jackets goal while Stars will have Lehtonen. Garon has a 1.97 GAA and a .925 Save Percentage.

I think this is the game for the Jackets to turn things around and stop the three game losing streak. It's another Saturday in front of home fans and they got what it takes to beat the Stars. (They are also 4-1 SU in last 5 games against Dallas.)

PICK: COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS TO WIN [Moneyline] [LOSS]

2 units @ 1.80

LA Kings @ Nashville Predators

After beating the Red Wings in back to back games, Kings had a pretty disappointing performance in St Louis, losing to the Blues who played without some top players.

Predators had a great run winning give games in a row and they are also 8-1-5 on home ice this season.

They have a 13.8% poor powerplay rate but they have allowed only 2.4 goals per game which is the third best in the league.

Kings dropped two of their last three games. 

Pekka Rinne is still out but his backup goaltender Anders Lindback has won five in a row and it looks like he is becoming the number one goaltender for the Predators. Rinne is healthy but Lindback will continue to play tonight and possibly in the next match against the Hawks.

Kings will have Bernier in goal as Jonathan Quick will be rested. Bernier has lost three straight games in which he has allowed 14 goals.

I believe Predators can continue their good run against the Kings with Bernier in goal tonight. Blues scored 6 goals against Kings defense which don't seem to be at theirbest at the moment.

PICK: NASHVILLE PREDATORS TO WIN [moneyline] [LOSS]

2 units @ 1.90

good luck!

Outcome: