Boston Bruins (30-25-12) @ New Jersey Devils (40-24-3)
7:00 PM ET, Monday, March 15, 2010
Prudential Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey
On: Versus Network
The struggling Boston Bruins head to East Rutherford on Monday night to take on the struggling New Jersey Devils. It is a battle of the league’s worst offense and the hardest teams to score on in the NHL.
Click Here for Expert NHL Hockey Picks.
- The New Jersey Devils rank 22nd on offense, and average 2.6 goals per game. The Devils are 18.3% on the power play and have 42 power play goals.
- The Boston Bruins rank 30th on offense, and average 2.4 goals per game. The Bruins are 18.3% on the power play and have 40 power play goals.
- The Devils average 3.0 goals per game at home, and give up 2.2 goals against on defense.
- The Bruins average 2.3 goals per game on the road, and give up 2.4 goals against on defense.
Boston Bruins: +145
The Boston Bruins will try to maintain their eighth place standing in the Eastern Conference with a win over the underwhelming New Jersey Devils on Monday night. If you read all of the headlines and believed all the hype, you would think that the Bruins were in last place in the East and playing for the first overall draft choice. A closer look shows that despite their horrific offense and the loss of Marc Savard to a concussion, the Bruins are actually playing some good hockey.
Boston has gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and is 3-3-1 since the Olympic break. Patrice Bergeron is back to form, David Krejci has been a quality addition to the first line, Dennis Seidenberg has been a assist machine and veteran Mark Recci has stepped up lately in the absence of Marc Savard. The goaltending of Tukka Rask and Tim Thomas has been superb for the Bruins and is a huge reason why the Bruins are where they are. The Bruins keep defying the odds by winning without scoring.
New Jersey Devils: -165
The New Jersey Devils are a difficult team to figure out. Since the Olympic break, they are an underwhelming 3-3 with impressive wins over the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins but they also have humiliating losses to Edmonton and the New York Islanders. Newcomer Ilya Kovalchuk is looking more at home and I expect the Devils to regain their swagger down the stretch.
New Jersey, as usual, sits in the bottom third of NHL team in offense but it hasn’t really been a problem until lately. When Martin Brodeur struggles, so does the rest of the team. That is what is happening right now. Brodeur is in the midst of a slump that started a few games before the Olympic tournament and he hasn’t regained his form since. Worry not devils fans, Brodeur is a consummate Pro and will find his game again soon.
Expect a low scoring game in New Jersey on Monday night. Both teams are offensively challenged and both have quality goaltending. New Jersey is the stingiest team on defense in the NHL and it is unlikely that the offense starved Bruins will be able to generate enough offense to get the win.
Pick: New Jersey Devils -165
Click Here for Expert NHL Hockey Picks.
Boston Bruins Betting Trends:
- Boston is 8-17 SU in its last 25 games
- Boston is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games on the road
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston’s last 6 games when playing New Jersey
- Boston is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing New Jersey
New Jersey Devils Betting Trends:
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of New Jersey’s last 8 games
- New Jersey is 8-15 SU in its last 23 games
- New Jersey is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of New Jersey’s last 6 games when playing Boston
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