In this column, I go through the night’s NHL games and give my reads solely based on lines, odds, betting trends, and how I perceive others perceive the game. It’s the reading of all lines, and I try to keep a free-flowing, train-of-thought approach. The purpose of these reads is to find an edge either in DFS, actual picks, or both. Sometimes, no edge exists — or simply can’t be found. I make it a point to note that, as well. As always, please do your own research and due diligence and play responsibly.
BOS/PIT – No budging on the point total is always of note — especially with the odds split on either side — and people do accept that it could be low-scoring. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help us at all. The best we can do is give a wide range of outcomes from 4-7 goals, but even that isn’t valuable. Looking at the ML and PL, it’s also split, even though the people are convinced that BOS wins. As we tend to see, there’s a nice amount of support for any favorite with +200 odds on the PL but that’s more about the number than the teams. Ultimately, the oddsmakers aren’t claiming a side, so we can’t either. The best we can do is land on the most generic, non-helpful result of 3-2 BOS.
VAN/OTT – You know the drill: don’t trust any team against OTT, regardless of the numbers. Before we go down that road, though, a look at the point total.