Atlantic Division rivals meet on Wednesday night on NBCSN as the Boston Bruins visit the Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins are in second place in the division and currently in a playoff spot while the Red Wings are on the outside looking in. The Red Wings have made the playoffs in each of the last 25 seasons but that streak is in serious jeopardy this season. Detroit is battling just to stay out of last place in the Atlantic Division.
At 8 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Wednesday, January 18, 2016, at Joe Louis Arena.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Like most teams in the NHL, the Bruins are playing games about every other day. They were home against the Islanders on Monday and now visit the Red Wings on Wednesday night. The Bruins have been just as good on the road as at home as they are 13-13 away from home. 14 of those games went under with just 9 going over with 3 pushes.
Detroit has a similar situation in terms of rest as they played Montreal at home on Monday and now have the Bruins on Wednesday. The only difference is that Detroit didn’t have to travel. The Red Wings have not played that well at home this season as they were just 8-13 in their first 21 home games with 9 going over the total, 9 going under with 3 pushes.
Special Teams
Boston has done very little on the power play this season as they are just 22nd in the league at 16.7%. The Bruins are scoring only 2.5 goals per game and that is also 22nd in the league. Boston has survived this season thanks to their penalty killing, defense and goaltending. Boston is 2nd in the league on the penalty kill at 86.2% and they are 5th in fewest goals allowed at 2.4 per game.
The Red Wings have been a disaster on the power play this season as they are last in the league at 11.8%. The Red Wings are scoring only 2.5 goals per game which is 24th in the league. Detroit is average in penalty killing at 82.3% which is 14th in the league. The Red Wings are giving up 3 goals per game which is 22nd in the league.
Goalie Report
The biggest difference in these two teams is in goal. The Bruins have Tuukka Rask who is 22-12 this season with a 1.98 goals against average. His backup is Zane McIntyre who is 0-4 with a 3.76 goals against average.
Detroit was surviving early in the season thanks to the play of Jimmy Howard who had a 1.96 goals against average but Howard has been hurt and is still out of the lineup. The Red Wings were thought to be in good shape with Petr Mrazek the co-starter but he has been terrible this season with a 9-15 record and a 3.19 goals against average. The other option is Jared Coreau who is 4-2 with a 3.12 goals against average. One trend worth noting of late with the poor goaltending is that entering this week the Red Wings had gone over the total in five straight games.
Free NHL Picks
The Bruins have dominated this series in recent years taking 8 of the last 10. The teams met earlier this season in Detroit with the Bruins winning by a score of 1-0. The Red Wings have dropped six of the last ten in this series in Detroit including four of the last five with four of the last six meetings ending with five combined goals.
The Bruins have the edge in goal with Rask so I will take Boston and I will also play the game over the total.
NHL Odds: Bruins 4, Red Wings 2
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