$FML's NHL Wednesday Picks - 12/7

We backed the boys in Black and Gold for FlashPicks on Monday night. It didn’t work out, but if you watched: you know we were on the right side. Boston vastly outplayed Vegas; they just ran out of time. That’s the beauty of sports. Any team can win any given night. Unfortunately for the reigning Stanley Cup champs, I’m not convinced they’ll be as lucky tonight.

Colorado had already been smacked with an avalanche of injuries; then they lost their best player, superstar Nathan MacKinnon, on Monday night. He’ll be out at least 1 month with an upper body injury.

Including that, the Avs’ latest injury report barely even fits on an iPhone screen…

This sets the stage for a massive uphill battle vs. the best team in the league by Points Percentage (85.4%) and Goal Differential (+39). Boston already trampled Colorado 5-1 just a few days ago with MacKinnon. Imagine how it might go without him?

For my official play: I’m taking Boston to win by 2+ goals via the Puck Line (aka -1.5 spread) at +145 (MGM) and would take it down to +125. For a safer bet, you could consider backing them to win on the Moneyline (-175) or in Regulation Time (-120).

As a complementary pick: I’m backing former league MVP Taylor Hall to record a point @ +100 (FanDuel). He’s in great form and recorded at least a point in 7 of his last 9 games. He was absolutely flying the other night and pivotal to Boston’s comeback attempt. Hallsy also has a terrific track record finding the scoresheet vs. Colorado with 4 points in their last 2 meetings. I also like how there’s a strong chance he’ll be booed every time he touches the puck tonight. Its not totally intuitive, but hear me out. In a visit to Denver last year, Hall took out Nathan MacKinnon with a nasty, controversial hit, and fans don’t forget this stuff. Nonetheless, I expect the boos will have an unintended consequence, that is motivating #71 to find the scoresheet.

The Picks:

• Risk 0.75U: Bruins -1.5 (+145) MGM
• Risk 0.75U: Taylor Hall over 0.5 Points (+100) FD