NHL Hockey Betting: New Jersey Devils at Edmonton Oilers
The New Jersey Devils are running out of time to turn their season around and now must head out on a Western road trip with stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Minnesota. The Devils haven’t been particularly good anywhere but they’ve been especially bad on the road with a 6-12-5 record away from the Prudential Center. They’re 4-5-1 in their last ten games and have lost three straight. Right now they’re near the bottom of the second ‘pack’ of teams in the highly competitive Metropolitan Division. They’re only two points ahead of the lowly New York Islanders and while they’re just 8 points behind the 5th place Philadelphia Flyers that’s where the ‘line of demarcation’ is between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in the Metropolitan. They’re 17 points back of the three teams tied for second through fourth (Penguins, Capitals, Islanders) and 20 points back of the division leading Columbus Blue Jackets. Not a particularly optimistic scenario.
The Edmonton Oilers have lost two straight and are 5-2-3 in their last ten. They’re in third place in the Pacific Division three points back of co-leaders San Jose and Anaheim and 3 points ahead of fourth place Calgary. They’ve actually played better on the road this season (12-7-5) than at home (9-8-2). The Oilers beat New Jersey in the only meeting of the season so far which was held just a few days ago (2-1 on 1/7/16). Cam Talbot hasn’t been ‘confirmed’ by the team yet but he’ll most likely get the start. Talbot has been solid in net and particularly against the horrific goaltending the Oilers had last season. Talbot has a record of 20-12-6 with a 2.51 goals against average and a 0.917 save percentage along with three shutouts.
New Jersey will go with Corey Schneider who has struggled this year and isn’t close to his usual form. Schneider has a record of 12-14-6 with a 2.73 goals against average and a 0.909 save percentage. The Devils have a bottom ten defense and should be an attractive target for Edmonton’s stable of sharpshooters. The price looks a little high for where the Oilers are at but then again we’ve seen very little out of New Jersey that would motivate us to get involved with the underdog.
BET EDMONTON OILERS -190 OVER NEW JERSEY DEVILS
