NHL Hockey Betting: Ottawa Senators at Edmonton Oilers
Everyone had the expectation that the Edmonton Oilers would be improved over last season. No one expected them to get off to a 7-1-0 start that has them not only in first place in the Pacific Division but in the Western Conference. They’ll try to keep that streak going on Sunday as they welcome the erratic Ottawa Senators to Rogers Place. The Senators are coming off a 5-2 loss at Calgary on Friday night and they’ve not been able to get any momentum going this season. They won their first two games to open the year and have alternated wins and losses since leaving them at 4-3-0 on the season.
What’s been most surprising about the Edmonton Oilers has been their ability to win low scoring games. Last year, they were usually successful in ‘video game style’ hockey games. That’s the way they played their first two games of the season against Calgary. In their current five game winning streak, however, they’ve become better on defense and have received an incredible run from starting goalie Cam Talbot. The Oilers have allowed just 4 goals in their last five games with a pair of shutouts including on Saturday night when they beat Vancouver 2-0. The offense is still very capable–team captain Connor McDavid is as good as expected this year and is leading the NHL in points (12). The Oilers are tied for #1 in the league in goals scored per game (3.63) but amazingly are now #2 in goals *against* per game allowing just 2.13. They’re still giving up too many shots on goal (32.5) but so far Talbot has been up to the workload.
The Ottawa goalie situation is still up in the air. Craig Anderson took a leave of absence after his wife was diagnosed with cancer but is returning to the team due to her insistance and the injury to Andrew Hammond. Not sure if Anderson will be ready to go here but if not it’ll be Chris Driedger who hasn’t impressed in limited action at the NHL level. The Oilers’ run won’t continue for ever but at this point they’re better in every phase of the game than the erratic and inconsistent Senators.
BET EDMONTON OILERS -135 OVER OTTAWA SENATORS
