Rangers Tonight

[hels]

I have a hard time understanding odds sometimes but something I have began learning is not to be fooled by thinking a team is better than it is. The Rangers are -116 (with the Sharks at +106) which is much much higher than one would expect from the "hottest" (sports.yahoo.com) team in the NHL at the moment. They have only lost their first game of the season against the Penguins (who are probably about the 2nd hottest team in the league) have won their last 7 and are playing at home against a team on the 3rd game of a 6 game road trip.

The Sharks who are 4-3-1 with a 2-3 road record have a win and a loss so far on the current road trip. The loss came to the Caps 4-1 and the win was against the second worst team in the league (Isles) 4-1...

Something else I have figured out is if I have to try to "FIND" info to pick a team then it's not a good bet. I don't have to find anything to tell me to bet the Rangers, where I would have to have some extremely thoughtful and deep digging to have a good enough reason to bet the Sharks.

I'm putting 2 units on the Rangers and wouldn't be surprised to see a 4-1 or 5-2 type of game.

[suicidekings]

Something else I have figured out is if I have to try to "FIND" info to pick a team then it's not a good bet. I don't have to find anything to tell me to bet the Rangers, where I would have to have some extremely thoughtful and deep digging to have a good enough reason to bet the Sharks.

I disagree pretty strongly with this. Consciously not making the effort to get as much information as possible about a game situation before betting will catch up to you as a team's fortunes change throughout the season.

Take the Rangers & Sharks game for example. After reading your post, I spent a few minutes looking at the Rangers last few games. Yes, they've won 7 in a row, but if you examine their last four games, two of those wins came against Toronto (enough said), one against LA (with Ersberg in net for the Kings, while the Rangers got outshot 2-1, and got outplayed in a way that the final score did not reflect), and against Anaheim (who were playing their last game on a 4 games in 6 days road trip, barely showing up to the game).

Not to say that these details are reason to bet against the Rangers, because excuses aside, a win is a win. However, it helps explain why the Rangers line was so much lower in this game, and I feel like the Sharks have a good chance to win it.

[dogcity]

hels,

Like your avatar. Hate to date myself (cough, cough)...but I was at many of the Greyhound home games when Gretzky played his only year of junior in the Soo.

Your write-up on the Rangers/SJ game seems sound. I think the Rangers are playing a bit over their heads but should take this one. Far from a lock though. SJ has been very inconsistent, so they're very hard to get a read on...

I wonder what Ranger fans will do when Gaborik goes down for his usual 2-3 month stint on the DL...

Cheers,
dogcity















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