NHL Hockey
2008-02-05 - Philadelphia Flyers at Atlanta Thrashers
A Sports Betting Pick by zamboni
The Philadelphia Flyers will look to continue with their domination over the Thrashers on Tuesday night when they travel to Atlanta. The Flyers have only lost 3 times in the past 28 meetings, and have won the past 8 head to head matchups.The Flyers have been playing well lately, winning 14 of their past 17 games and currently sit 2nd overall in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia has also done very well on the road of late, winning 7 of their past 8 games, including a 4-1 victory over the Thrashers last month.
The power-play has been one of their keys to success, converting almost 25% of their chances with the man advantage. Their power-play is currently 2nd best in the NHL.
The Flyers can score with the best of them, averaging 3.3 goals per game, the 3rd best in the NHL. They have averaged over 5 goals per game in their past 4 games away from home.
The Atlanta Thrashers have been winning despite missing their best player (Kovalchuk) for the past 2 games. They stole a game from Buffalo on Friday night, scoring in the last 20 seconds of the game to tie it, and then won in a shootout. They also won on Saturday night, beating Washington 2-0, despite having only 13 shots on net. So yes, the Thrasher’s are winning, but not so sure they are playing great. They will need more production if they are to beat the red-hot Flyers tonight.
Ilya Kovalchuk will likely miss tonight’s game, so the Thrasher’s will have to get it done again, without their top dog. We have seen that in the past, that without goals from Kovalchuk, the Thrasher have only won 7 times this season. As noted, they have won the past 2 without him, but I think these results are deceiving and I believe their luck will soon run out.
The Thrashers, as with most teams have struggled in the first game home, after a road trip, winning only 2 of the last 6 in this situation. Tonight will mark the 4th game in 7 nights for the Thrasher’s and fatigue may play a factor in this one.
The Flyer’s have been much more consistent in the past few weeks and as noted above, history certainly favors them in this situation. I will take the Flyer’s to win this one and keep their winning steak steak going.
The Pick :
Philadelphia Flyers ML
