NHL Free Picks – Chicago Blackhawks and Ducks from Anaheim

The Blackhawks must have felt a little sheepish receiving all the media and PR attention these past few days considering the weekend they had. The Central Division leaders have been all over the place since arriving in Los Angeles on Monday. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane headed to ESPN's L.A. studio immediately after landing on Monday, where they taped a segment for SportsCenter and also announced the top 10 plays of the day.

Then on Tuesday night, Kane, Toews and the rest of the Blackhawks were invited down NBC Studios for a taping of "The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

"The whole team sat in the crowd," Kane told NHL.com. "Myself, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook -- all the medal winners -- had a little part in the show. It was pretty cool."

All this attention comes after one of their most disappointing weekends of the season. Their first setback came against the Flyers where they were just over two minutes away from what would have been a big win in Philadelphia. Scott Hartnell had other ideas as he tied the game with 2:04 remaining, but the dagger came with just 2.1 seconds remaining when Chris Pronger scored the game winner. Chicago went from having a regulation win to a straight up loss in just over two minutes. Things got worse a day later, as they blew a 3-0 third-period lead against Washington, losing that one 4-3 in overtime. Ouch.

The Ducks, meanwhile, had been just awful since the Olympic break. They got the bleeding stopped on a five-game slide, which included a four-game home losing streak, on Sunday with a 4-2 victory over San Jose. It was a big win as it was the Ducks first win over the Sharks in six meetings this year. They have actually had some success against the Blackhawks this year as well, winning two of three meetings including their last outing, a 3-1 win in the Windy City.

Teemu Selanne scored the 599th goal of his career last game and will be shooting for the milestone marker tonight. With his next tally, he will become just the 18th player in NHL history to reach 600 goals, and he is just two goals short of tying his country mate and Hall-of- Famer, Jari Kurri, for the most goals scored by a Finnish player. A huge milestone to say the least.

Here are some NCAAB betting trends for tonight’s Western Conference showdown:

• Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Anaheim.
• Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
• Home team is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.
• Blackhawks are 7-19-1 in the last 27 meetings.
• Blackhawks are 4-17-2 in the last 23 meetings in Anaheim.

With all the attention this team has been receiving, this could easily be a trap game for Chicago. They have also had a very tough time winning at the Honda Center historically, losing five of its last six at, including a 3-0 shutout on November 27 th. They only have two wins and a pair of ties in its last 16 visits to Anaheim. That doesn’t bode well for a team fresh of some tough loses, play the Ducks at +120.

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