NHL Betting Picks for January 24, 2011

The Oddsbay NHL handicapping team delivered an easy winner on the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday, and they're back to work on Monday with a big hockey betting card. Make Oddsbay your home for the best NHL betting information available online!
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS AT CAROLINA HURRICANES--JANUARY 24, 2011 4:05 PM PACIFIC
Toronto is playing better than they were earlier this season, while Carolina is in decent form but still mired in the logjam in the Southeast Division and at the lower end of the table. Both teams are lousy defensively--Leafs and Canes tied for #22 and #23 in scoring defense allowing 3.02 goals per game. Carolina can at least score goals--Hurricanes have the #10 scoring offense with 2.90 goals per game. Both teams prefer to play end to end hockey--probably out of necessity due to their defensive struggles--and in head to head play that's resulted in a lot of OVERs. 6 of the L8 meetings including 3 of the L4 in Raleigh have gone OVER the total. Only meeting so far this season was in late December with Carolina picking up a 4-3 victory at the Air Canada Centre. Canes have only played 7 games UNDER (12 OV, 1 push) against opponents with losing records, which suggests that they try to leverage their superior offense against bottom feeders. Last five head to head meetings have averaged 7 goals per game and we'll go OVER here.
PLAY CAROLINA/TORONTO OVER 5' -115
NEW YORK RANGERS AT WASHINGTON CAPITALS--JANUARY 24, 2011 4:35 PM PACIFIC
The Capitals are playing and as usual we're going UNDER. The New York Rangers will gladly play along at their preferred tempo. As we've noted before, the Caps UNDER has been one of the most automatic bets in the NHL this season. It's been even stronger since due to the public perception of the name on their sweater, they're getting dealt totals of 5.5 rather than 5--which any other team with the same O/U profile would be getting. But let's start with the Rangers, who've played only 17 OV in 50 games (30 UN, 3 push). They've only gone OV 7 times against opponents with winning records playing 16 UN, 3 push. Washington's transformation from a scoring juggernaut into a defense first team has been profound--Caps are now the NHL's #7 scoring defense allowing 2.51 goals per game. The Rangers are #6. Washington is #13 in scoring offense, but they're averaging over a goal per game less than last season. In 49 games this season they've played 34 UN and 2 push. In 21 games against opponents with winning records they've played only 5 OV, with 15 UN and 1 push. They're also showing a strong commitment to their new style of play--this is evidenced by their tendency to go on long UNDER runs. After 3 or more UN verdicts the Caps are UN in 11 of 15. Oddly enough, both of the previous meetings this year have gone OVER with the last game a 7-0 Rangers blowout. Caps will play better defensively this time and we'll stay with our strategy of going UNDER the total.
PLAY WASHINGTON/NEW YORK UNDER 5' -120
NASHVILLE PREDATORS AT CALGARY FLAMES--JANUARY 24, 2011 6:35 PM PACIFIC
The Flames have regressed somewhat from their play of recent years, and now Nashville is simply the better team in better form. Predators have won 10 of their L12 while Flames are 6-6 in their L12. Predators play hockey the way Calgary used to when they were at the top of their game, and they'll be able to outplay the Flames at their own game. In 11 games this season with 5 totals the Predators are 8-3. One of the losses was a 1-0 setback at home to the Flames earlier this season, and Nashville is 13-6 in revenge games. They've only gone OVER in 5 of these 'revenge games' with 11 UN and 3 push. We'll take the underdog price with Nashville and look to go UNDER the low total. Last two head to head were 1-0 games and 5 of the L8 have stayed UNDER.
PLAY NASHVILLE PREDATORS +110 OVER CALGARY FLAMES
PLAY NASHVILLE/CALGARY UNDER 5 +120