My first money-line article for FlashPicks. I don’t often dabble ML, but hockey is certainly my favorite sport to do it in. I found a spot with great value that I just can’t resist.
I’ll start by saying, the Maple Leafs are a great home team. Now that I said that, I’m betting them to lose tonight. The Panthers are a different beast and I can’t resist them here at plus odds. They are the leagues best offense and just got better at the trade deadline after acquiring Claude Giroux. They have won 8 of their last 10 games including 3 straight on the road.
The key motivation behind this play is the maple leafs goal tender, Petr Mrazek. He doesn’t qualify for goals against because he doesn’t have the 31.25% of starts required (he has started in 16 games, appeared in 18) but if he did he would be bottom 5 with 3.39 goals allowed per game. The Leafs have lost 3 of his last 5 starts, including two losses vs a bad Sabres team and one loss vs the bottom feeding Coyotes.
As for the Panthers, they are expected to start Spencer Knight. While I would prefer the Panthers top goal tender in net, Spencer has had a solid season. He is also on a great stretch as of late winning 4 of his last 6 starts, only allowing 1.97 goals per game in that stretch.
I just can’t see this Panthers team struggling to find the back of the net in this one with Mrazek in net, and am looking forward to them being my first Flashpicks money-line bet tonight!
