NHL Betting Odds: New Jersey Devils at Boston Bruins

Added on Mar 22, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

Big NHL Eastern Conference battle on the hockey betting board tonight as the resurgent New Jersey Devils head to the TD BankNorth Garden in Boston to take on the Bruins. The Devils are now just 7 points back of a playoff spot which seemed unfathomable a few months ago. The Bruins have a fairly decent grip on their playoff spot and lead the Northeast Division by 1 point over the Montreal Canadiens.

New Jersey Devils at Boston Bruins
March 22, 2011 4:05 PM Pacific

The Devils aren’t going away any time soon and even if they don’t make the postseason this year their turnaround from the biggest doormat in the NHL to the best defensive team in the league is truly remarkable. The Devils have been playing the strongest defense in the NHL since Jacques Lemaire took over as interim had coach and have won 21 of their last 28 games. In that 28 game stretch they’re allowing a stingy 1.85 goals per game. They’re up to #9 in scoring defense–an amazing turnaround in itself considering they were right at the bottom of the league scoring defense standings for most of the first half of the season. The Devils need to play good defense to win, since they’re the lowest scoring team in the NHL(2.10 goals per game). New Jersey has gone Over the total in only 3 of their last 26 games (16 UN, 7 push). Bruins not in great form of late (4-3-3 in their last 10) and have lost 6 of their last 7. They’re just 16-12-5 on home ice so their home ice advantage is dubious at TD BankNorth Garden. You know that you’re going to get a strong effort from New Jersey and that definitely mandates a play on them as dogs as well as a play on the Under. 6 of the L7 head to head including 4 of 5 in Boston have gone Under the total. The Devils have been very competitive in this series–since 2008 the teams have split 10 games overall and the Devils have actually gotten the best of the Bruins in Boston winning 3 of the last 5. The Bruins have a much more important game on deck against division rival Montreal and could be ripe for an upset.

Bet New Jersey Devils +125 over Boston Bruins
Bet New Jersey/Boston Under 5 -130