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NHL GAME PICKS AND ANALYSIS<br />
THE BLUE JACKETS HAVE BEEN ONE OF<br />
THE HOTTEST TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE,<br />
WHICH HOPEFULLY GIVES US A GOOD<br />
NUMBER TO PLAY AGAINST THEM<br />
IN THIS SPOT.<br />
On to this week’s analysis and plays. There<br />
weren’t a lot of matchups we felt good about<br />
from the schedule, resulting in only four<br />
suggested picks.<br />
Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers.<br />
Have a great week.<br />
Friday, November 25th<br />
NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia<br />
Find the Rangers in the standings and then<br />
look down, way down and you’ll see the Philadelphia<br />
Flyers. The exercise will tell you a lot<br />
about the first couple of months of the season<br />
for these two teams: Rangers very good...<br />
Philly not very good.<br />
But this spot interests us for a play on the<br />
home side. They catch New York off a homeand-home<br />
vs. the Penguins, and while this<br />
would be a stronger situation if the Blueshirts<br />
were facing a low-level non-conference opponent,<br />
we still like it enough with a struggling<br />
conference foe. Philly should be game for a<br />
spirited effort in front of the hometown fans in a<br />
mid-afternoon tilt the day after Thanksgiving.<br />
Now all bets are off if you hear former captain<br />
Mike Richards is in town visiting the boys and<br />
taking them out for a Thanksgiving night cap...<br />
but aside from that, we like the home team to<br />
show up.<br />
Take the Flyers.<br />
Saturday, November 26th<br />
Columbus vs. Florida<br />
The Blue Jackets have been one of the<br />
hottest teams in the league, which hopefully<br />
gives us a good number to play against them<br />
in this spot. Columbus will be coming off a<br />
game last night vs. Tampa Bay, making this<br />
the second of back-to-back nights in the Sunshine<br />
State.<br />
Florida haven’t been enjoying the same<br />
success as of late, scuffling along as opposed<br />
to building any real momentum. They’re<br />
currently looking up the standings to see the<br />
Jackets, but they’ve been solid at home this<br />
year and ice a lineup that does enjoy some<br />
favorable head-to-head matchup edges. With<br />
last change, as the host, they should be able<br />
to take advantage.<br />
We’ll play the Panthers on the moneyline if<br />
the number is -120 or less (might be a little<br />
hopeful), but if we can’t get it there, we will<br />
be taking the home team laying the -.5 goal<br />
and getting nice plus money (the play there is<br />
Florida to win in regulation).<br />
Play Florida, as per the above<br />
Chicago at Los Angeles<br />
Good spot for the Kings to get a little revenge<br />
for a 3-0 loss the Blackhawks handed<br />
them a few weeks ago. Chicago arrives<br />
in LA at the end of a long seven-game<br />
road trip. The Kings are<br />
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