Tuesday 2 game NHL Parlay – The Hot and The Not

Tuesday Night’s NHL action features two teams that are playing great hockey going into the Olympic Break and two more that struggling mightily at the present time.

Vancouver Canucks (35-20-2) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (25-21-11)

7:30 PM ET, Tuesday, February 9, 2010
St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, Florida

• The Tampa Bay Lightning rank 20th on offense, and average 2.5 goals per game. The Lightning are 19.1% on the power play and have 44 power play goals.
• The Vancouver Canucks rank 3rd on offense, and average 3.2 goals per game. The Canucks are 21.5% on the power and have 50 power play goals.
• The Lightning average 2.8 goals per game at home, and give up 2.1 goals against on defense.
• The Canucks average 2.7 goals per game on the road, and give up 2.9 goals against on defense.
• Vancouver has allowed the third fewest goals in the league at 2.5 per game.
  
  

Vancouver Canucks – -145

The Canucks take their superb 8-2 record over their past 10 games into Tampa Bay to play an equally Hot team. The Offense has been lacking the last few games but Roberto Luongo has been bailing them out. That’s the sign of a good team. The Canucks are at the beginning of a LONG road trip without Defensemen Kevin Bieksa and Willie Mitchell but as long as you have Luongo, the Defense is fine. They Canucks are a well coached bunch and should be able to get the Offense going once again against an overmatched Lightning team.

Tampa Bay Lightning – +125

Tampa Bay has somehow climbed back into the Eastern Conference Playoff race and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. Although their recent play might seem impressive, consider that they’ve beaten a slumping Calgary team, Atlanta twice, the Islanders and the Leafs during their run. This isn’t a great team and they certainly don’t have enough to machup up with the powerful Canucks.

Nashville Predators (31-22-4) @ New York Islanders (23-27-8)

7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York

• The New York Islanders rank 29th on offense, and average 2.4 goals per game. The Islanders have the second worst power play at 15.1% and have 33 power play goals.
• The Nashville Predators rank 13th on offense, and average 2.7 goals per game. The Predators are 16.5% on the power play and have 34 power play goals.
• The Islander average 2.5 goals per game at home, and give up 2.6 goals against on defense.
• The Predators average 2.9 goals per game on the road, and give up 2.9 goals against on defense.

Nashville Predators – -135

The Nashville Predators are finally falling back to earth. Amazingly, at one point this season the Preds were in fourth place in the Western Conference, now they are eighth. It’s about where they should be. This will be their first game of a road trip. After two days off, they will be ready to go against a free falling Islanders team.

New York Islanders – +115

What a difference a couple of weeks makes. The once surging Islanders have fallen on hard times of late going 2-8 in their last 10 games. They have lost to some bad teams along the way too. The most important thing for a young team is confidence and it is clear that the Islanders have NONE.