Monday Picks: Lightning, Ducks extend streaks
Welcome to the NHL Daily Picks where hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters make their selections for all of the day’s games.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 7 p.m. ET
The 2015-16 NHL season has already had three different 10-game winning streaks in it. The Tampa Bay Lightning are trying to become the fourth.
They have a chance to run their current win streak to double-digits on Monday night when they take their current nine-game winning streak into Philadelphia when they pay the Flyers a visit.
This winning streak has allowed Tampa Bay to climb back to the top of the NHL’s Atlantic Division and has them once again looking like a Stanley Cup contender. Everything is clicking for them right now after a slow start to the season when injuries played a pretty big role in slowing them down. Now that they are healthy, they look like a team that is going to once again challenge for the Eastern Conference crown.
While the Lightning are fighting for a division title, this game is much bigger for the Flyers who are simply trying to get into the playoffs. They enter play on Monday four points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second Wild Card spot in the eastern conference and still have a game in hand (which they will be making up on Monday).
The Flyers have been picking up a lot of points over the past month and are 7-3-2 over their past 12 games. But are they for real when it comes to the Eastern Conference playoff race? The schedule has certainly done them plenty of favors with only two of those games coming against teams that are currently in a playoff position (The New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild). Other than those two games, every game over that stretch has been against Buffalo, New Jersey (two), Montreal, Arizona, Columbus, Carolina, Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto. Not only are all of those teams out of a playoff position (and likely not going) that group contains six of the league’s nine worst teams.
The competition is going to get significantly tougher on Monday as they face a team that is not only the reigning conference champions, but is also one of the best teams in the conference right now and is playing some of its best hockey of the season. Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Philadelphia Flyers 2
Bonus game: Anaheim Ducks vs. Washington Capitals, 10 p.m. ET
While the Lightning are looking to extend their streak to 10 games, the Anaheim Ducks are looking to extend theirs to 12 on Monday night as they look to potentially increase their lead in the NHL’s Pacific Division.
They will be doing so against Bruce Boudreau’s former team, the Washington Capitals, in what would be a potential Stanley Cup Final matchup.
The Capitals have the best record in hockey, are the first team to 100 points, and look like they are going to claim their second Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history as the NHL’s top regular season team. There are a lot of reasons to like the Capitals in this game, but given the way the Ducks have been scoring goals recently at an incredible rate (42 during their current 11-game winning streak … an average of more than four per game) and Washington goalie Braden Holtby has hit a little bit of a slump recently and only has a .908 save percentage since the start of January. The Ducks are a tough team to stop right now, and should be able to get a few behind Holtby to run their winning streak to 12. Pick: Anaheim Ducks 4, Washington Capitals 2
The rest of Monday’s picks
Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Buffalo Sabres 2
Boston Bruins 4, Florida Panthers 3
Colorado Avalanche 5, Arizona Coyotes 2
San Jose Sharks 4, Calgary Flames 3
Los Angeles Kings 4, Vancouver Canucks 2
The Tampa Bay Lightning go for 10 wins in a row.(USATSI)
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