NHL Betting Free Picks: Vancouver @ Columbus
Added on Feb 12, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
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Slow day at the sportsbooks, with the NBA on All Star break and a short card of college hoop action. We’ll turn our attention to NHL betting, with two plays today. In the first, Vancouver heads to Columbus, Ohio to face the Blue Jackets. Jackets have played well since they sent coach Ken Hitchcock packing while Vancouver in something of a slump of late.
Vancouver Canucks at Columbus Blue Jackets
February 12, 4:05 PM Pacific Time
Vancouver Canucks are in third place in the Western Conference, but that’s because they’re leading the Northwest Division. If the division leaders didn’t get the top three seedings they’d be tied for sixth place. They’re well off the pace set by conference leaders Chicago and San Jose and have lost three of five though did shut out Florida on Thursday night. Before that, however, they won 7 straight games so we’re not ready to write them off for the season.
Blue Jackets have apparently responded to the coaching change with Claude Noel taking over for Ken Hitchcock. Columbus has won three straight and five of seven though they remain 8 points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They’ve done it by playing better defense, with 7 of their last 10 games going under the total. Canucks also trending Under lately, with only one Over in their last 7 games (5 UN, 1 push).
As we’ve stressed on many occasions, we place a great emphasis on team vs. team matchups and particularly ‘in season’ matchups. These head to head games reveal the form that a game should take, and they’re often much more significant than streaks or YTD O/U records. That’s the case here as four of the L7 games between the teams have gone Over the total. The two teams have met twice this year, with both games going Over and a total of 18 goals scored. We’ll look for more of the same here and the recent ‘Under’ tendency of both teams gives us a nice value price on the sports betting moneyline.
Bet Vancouver/Columbus Over 5′ +105
