Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We would like to wish a happy and safe holiday season to all our friends and family and our readers. Thank you for checking on the site each day and making this more fun than we could have imagined.

-HOCKEYSURESHOT

We will have an exciting announcement coming soon about the future of this site.

Thursday Prediction

Nashville Predators Will Get Back on Track at Home Versus Ottawa

The Pick: Nashville -150 over Ottawa

The Nashville Predators were one of the hottest teams in hockey a week ago, but have since dropped two straight including a 4-1 loss last night in Chicago. In their last two games they have been outscored 10-2 which is something that coach Barry Trotz will certainly address. The good news for the Predators is that they should have goalie Pekka Rinne back from injury tonight. As for Ottawa, they have all sort of problems going on as they are slipping out of playoff contention. They are struggling to get consistent goaltending from either Pascal LeClaire or Brian Elliot. The Senators have allowed the second most goals in the Eastern Conference. As for the Ottawa offense, although it has produced a bit more lately, it still struggles against good defensive teams which the Predators are. Nashville should be able to contain the Sens offense and end their two game losing streak at home.

Florida at Pittsburgh

The Panthers go into Pittsburgh tonight coming off an impressive 5-0 win in Philadelphia. Florida holds a 15-16 record and has at times played better than anyone thought. The Penguins also come off a blowout win. A 6-1 drubbing of Phoenix Monday night at home. Pittsburgh has been the hottest team in the NHL over the last month with just 2 losses in their last 15 games.
While Florida has a knack for playing hard and outworking their opponents, the Penguins won't take them lightly and will win this at home.

Pick: Pittsburgh -230

Tuesday Prediction

Colorado's Six Game Win Streak Ends Tonight

Los Angeles at Colorado

The Pick: LA +109

The Colorado Avalanche enter tonight's game on a six game winning streak and are the highest scoring team in the league. These two clubs played once this season with LA winning 6-4 at the Pepsi Center back in October. The Kings will be playing their final game of a 5-game road trip and are 2-2 thus far. The Avalanche are the more faster team, but the Kings are the more physical team and may give the Avalanche defense problems, especially since the Av's are missing Kyle Quincey and Kyle Cumiskey on the blueline. Look for the Kings to cycle the puck in the Colorado zone and wear down the Avalanche defense. Jonathan Quick has been brilliant in goal all season and will be looking to end a personal two game losing streak.

Monday Prediction

Tampa Bay will put an end to the Hurricanes four game win streak tonight.

Tampa Bay -150 over Carolina

Record Last Week: 5-2

We start the new week in the Southeast Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning hosting the Carolina Hurricanes for the first time this season. Both clubs enter the game on winning streaks. Tampa has won three in a row, while the Hurricanes have notched four straight victories. The question for the Lightning is who will be in goal as Mike Smith was injured in practice. Tampa should be able to muster enough offense to beat the Canes at home on Steve Stamkos bobblehead night. The Lightning are 10-2-2 when scoring first and are very productive at home with a 9-2-2 record. Carolina is playing very well lately and we love how Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner are playing but it won't be enough against the Lightning tonight.

Dallas at Detroit

Dallas traveled to Detroit late last night after a 2-1 win in Columbus. The surprising Stars are 19-10-3 and just 2 points behind the Red Wings for first place in the Western Conference. Detroit however is proving that they are still one of the team's to beat in the West. The Wings own a 12-4-2 record at Joe Louis Arena and sat on their rear's last night as Dallas played in Ohio.

We look for Detroit to widen their mark in the Western Conference and keep Dallas off of their back.

Pick: Detroit -200

Toronto at Vancouver

HockeySureShot looks to go 5-1 for the week after Saturday's action.

The Maple Leafs head into Vancouver tonight to face the Canucks. We are going to stay with our trend to bet against the Leafs on the road. Read about that in our previous blog here.
Vancouver is 10-3-2 at home while Toronto is 4-9-1 on the road. The Canucks have been hot lately going 7-2-1 in their last 10.

Vancouver is the better team and should win this game.

Pick: Vancouver -200

Ottawa at Colorado

Ottawa travels to Denver tonight to play the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are one of the most impressive young teams in the league and look to continue their winning ways at home. The Avs hold an 8-4-1 record at home this season while Ottawa has won just 6 road games in 15 tries.
Colorado's young offense should outmatch the Senators D.

Our Pick: Colorado -165

Ducks at Islanders

The Islanders come into tonight's game losers of 20 of 21. Rick Dipietro will be in goal tonight. Rick has made an inspired comeback, his numbers are not. Rick ranks last and 2nd to last in the NHL in Goals Against and Save Percentage. The Islanders are having trouble scoring as well and are not playing inspired hockey.

As for the Ducks, they have won 3 straight and have tied Dallas for the Pacific Division lead with 38 points. They are also 7-2-1 in their last 10 and will travel to Long Island after beating the Caps in overtime last night.

Take the Ducks to continue their winning ways and the Islanders to keep up their losing ways.

Pick: Ducks -125

Wednesday Prediction

Injuries mounting for the St. Louis Blues.

Detroit -180 over St. Louis

Alex Pietrangelo is the latest Blue to go down to injury joining key players Andy McDonald, David Perron, T.J. Oshie, and Roman Polak on the inactive list for tonight's game at Detroit. The Blues are having trouble scoring goals of late and meet a Red Wings team that put up 51 shots on goal Monday night vs. LA only to lose 5-0. As a matter of fact, the Wings have lost 3 of 4 at home which rarely happens. We expect them to be angry and take out some frustrations on the Blues tonight. St. Louis is playing hard and still picking up points despite all the injuries and should keep this close. Jaroslav Halak has the ability to steal a game for the Blues, but tonight he will face a difficult challenge holding down the Wings explosive offense. Detroit has already defeated the Blues earlier this season 7-3.

Tuesday Prediction

The Streak Ends Tonight!

Philadelphia -125 over Pittsburgh


The Pittsburgh Penguins have won 12 straight heading into this tilt in Philadelphia with the rival Flyers. Philadelphia has defeated the Penguins twice thus far, and would want nothing more than to hand the Penguins their first loss since November 15th. The Flyers played well in their four games last week by winning three, and only losing to the Sharks in a shootout, a game in which they outplayed SJ. These two teams are only separated by one point, which should add to the suspense tonight. We like the way Philadelphia has played lately and still think they are the better team.

Monday Prediction

Calgary -130 over Columbus

The Flames return home after losing both games in California to the Kings and Ducks. As usual they are struggling to score goals, but have been playing better at home of late. Columbus defeated NYR at home on Saturday and will be playing their first game on a 3-game Western Canada trip. Calgary defeated Columbus 5-2 earlier this season and should win a low scoring game behind goalie Mikka Kiprusoff.

Tuesday Timeout

In the Western Conference it's not surprising to see the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings atop their respective divisions. What is surprising is seeing the Dallas Stars on top of the Pacific Division during the second week of December. This is a franchise that battled ownership issues over the summer, a reduced payroll, and are coming off a last place finish a year ago.

When the Stars started the season 4-0 they still had plenty of doubters. I saw them play live on Long Island, and they were pretty much the team I expected. A team that could score but had serious questions in their defensive zone. Kari Lehtonen was a big question in goal also, and Andrew Raycroft was an average backup at best. However, Lehtonen has made Stars fans forget about Marty Turco as he is 4th among goalies in wins. Raycroft has played brilliantly in the five games he has played thus far, posting a 1.65 GAA.

The defense, much maligned last season after giving up the second most goals in the Western Conference, has kept it together and is led by the 33-year old Stephane Robidas. He is a workhorse by playing 25 minutes a night and gives the team a veteran presence to help the younger defensemen Niklas Grossman and Matt Niskanen. Dallas has won ten games this season by one goal which is proof that coach Marc Crawford is finally focusing more on defense.

Even with the hot start and the development of promising young forwards James Neal and Jamie Benn, things are not all rosey in Dallas. Daily trade rumors surround leading scorer and free agent to be, Brad Richards. It is becoming more clearer that Dallas cannot take on more salary, and they may ultimately have to trade Richards. Fans are also not showing up in Dallas. If you watch a game on TV at American Airlines Center the front rows are almost always empty. The Stars rank 25th in attendance this year despite the fact they are a first place club.

Obviously, losing Mike Modano may have turned off some fans, but the Stars are better off in the long run. Hopefully, once football is over Stars fans will show up. This team has a solid core with the players we mentioned in addition to Loui Erikksson, who seems to always score big goals for Dallas. Definitely keep an eye on the Stars this season as it will be interesting to see if they're for real in the Pacific Division. With San Jose, Los Angeles, and Phoenix all having their ups and downs, this division is wide open.

Tuesday Pick: Boston -150 over Buffalo

Not sure what the deal is with Boston playing .500 at home thus far, but one would think they'll be a bit angry tonight after losing to Toronto on Saturday. This is the first of a three game homestand for the Bruins who handled Buffalo 5-2 during their first meeting. Ryan Miller was not in goal that night, but will get the call tonight and is coming off back to back shutout performances over Columbus and Ottawa. Look for the Bruins to win a tight game at home. In my mind Boston is the better team.

Season record: 4-0

How to make money on the remaining NHL season. (If you happen to be visiting Vegas of course)

Betting against poor teams on the road really raises your odds on making money. We did some research today on Anaheim, Edmonton, New York Islanders and Toronto to see where we would be come today profit wise. Lets take a look.

Anaheim so far has been unpredictable. However, with their poor defense, they haven't been great on the road. Anaheim is so far 4-9 (including overtimes/shootouts) on the road. If you had bet to win $100 on each road game, you would be up $140. You would have $900 in the bank based on the 9 losses. The money lines for their four road wins are as follows:

Phoenix -180
San Jose -200
Dallas -165
Philly -215

That's a total of $760. Take your $900 winnings and subtract $760 and your profits are $140. Nothing special, but whenever you are ahead, you'll take it.

Next up, the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers had 9 wins on the road last season and this year doesn't look like they will see much of an improvement. Edmonton is 3-9 on the road and with betting to win $100 on each of their 12 road games, you would have a profit of $290.

Edmonton has beaten Chicago twice and Anaheim on the road. Money lines:

Chicago: -185
Chicago: -245
Anaheim: -180


A money line total of $610 on the losers subtracted from $900 on the winners gives you your $290 profit.

Next up, Toronto.

Toronto has struggled so far this season, and still can't find the winning ways especially on the road. They are 2-8. Toronto hasn't won a road game since October 15th, losing 8 straight since. So say you bet to win $100 on each of their 10 road games. You would win $800 on their 8 losses. Toronto beat the Rangers and Penguins on the road with money lines of -140 at NYR and -165 for Pittsburgh. Take your $800 winnings and subtract your $305 from your loser bets and you have a profit of $495. Not to shabby on just 10 road games.


Last and least. The New York Islanders. In the last two seasons, the Islanders won just 20 of 82 roads games under Scott Gordon which is one reason why he may have lost his job. So far this season, the Isles who have had a road heavy schedule are just 2-11. The Isles beat Toronto and Tampa in back to back road games early in the season. Money line in Tampa was -170 and in Toronto -180 for a total of $350. Take $1100 for the 11 losses and your profit would be $750.
$750 is a pretty impressive number.

Let's add up the profits: Anaheim $140, Edmonton $290, Toronto $495 and NYI $750.

That's a total of $1,675.

Going forward, safe bets on road games against Edmonton, Toronto and the Islanders are the way to go. While Anaheim has produced a profit, it might be safer to stay away from them as they have been unpredictable.

We will take a look again at the progress come the halfway point of the season to see if your theory stays true.

Monday Minutes

The Atlanta Thrashers may only draw 12,000 fans on weekends, have perhaps the worst uniforms in hockey. Sorry, but the powder blue home jersey's have to go. But they are playing the best hockey of any team that I have seen lately by beating Detroit, Washington, Montreal, and Boston all in the last ten days. Not only are they winning these games, but they gave up a total of 2 goals in all those games combined. They embarrassed the Wings 5-1 and shut out the Capitals 5-0. Is this shocking to anyone? Since recovering from a concussion, Ondrej Pavelec has been tremendous in net. Moving Dustin Byfuglien to defense has been a brilliant move which has allowed him more ice time. Andrew Ladd is averaging a point per game, and Evander Kane is proving why he was drafted so high two years ago by already scoring 9 goals. Hopefully the fickle fans of Atlanta will start supporting this exciting team once it returns from a tough 3-game road trip against Colorado, Pittsburgh, and the before mentioned Capitals.

Another team that rarely gets any press and still continues to win are the Phoenix Coyotes. Phoenix recently had a seven game win streak snapped by Anaheim on Saturday night, but still sit atop the Pacific Division with 27 points. The Coyotes are doing this without Shane Doan, who is still injured, and with their leading scorer Ray Whitney only netting 16 points. Once again, Ilya Bryzgalov has been stingy in goal and Keith Yandle has really improved defensively for Phoenix. Teams such as Phoenix in the Pacific Division can ill afford to slump. The difference from first place to last point is a mere 2 points. Look for the Coyotes to get back on track Tuesday at Nashville.

It may only be the end of November, but have we mentioned how competitive the Western Conference is yet? Take Edmonton out of the mix, and the difference between first place and fourteenth place is only 12 points. That's why I think tonight's game between Minnesota and Calgary is important. Calgary, as with any Canadian team, is under immense pressure daily. Currently, the Flames sit in 14th place with 20 points. It will be extremely difficult to leap frog six other teams to make the playoffs with so many three point games in the NHL these days. The Wild have 24 points, and Calgary needs to stay within striking distance or major changes will be happening. Will Jarome Iginla be traded? The Kings, and the rest of the league could only hope.

Monday Pick: Calgary -145

We just mentioned that Calgary is a desperate team right now. They just finished a so-so east coast road trip 2-2-1 and return home to face their Northwest Division rival Minnesota Wild. Take Calgary to win a low-scoring affair at the Saddledome.