darrell,

First losing night in forever last night. We'll bounce back tonight with 3 picks.

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Keep your head up and stick on the ice, darrell!

Game: San Jose at Nashville (1:05 PM Eastern)
Pick: 3 stars on Nashville -102

Still no believers after game 1? As I mentioned when picking Nashville then, this is the better team. Look at their record. Look at the stats. And, they are at home with a chip on their shoulder. Even money again presents great value. They don't win 8 out of 10 of these games but they should certainly win more than half. And, after their first game win, they are now 5-0 agsint San Jose in games here in Nashville over the past three seasons. They are also now 8-1 at home vs. teams that are 51%-60% and 14-1 at home against starting goalies with a save % under 90% (Nabokov is at 88.5% on the season).

Detroit almost let one slip away in game one but they showed how good they really are by coming back to win in 2OT. I think the Oilers will be down psychologically after that, saying to themselves "geesh - if we can't win that one, what chance do we really have?" Meanwhile, the win bolsters Detroit's confidence and they do NOT want to get down again early tonight after that scare. The Red Wings are now 14-4-1 vs. Edmonton here including 4-1 over the last three seasons. They are just too tough and they take game #2 here.

Ottawa took care of business in game one, winning 4-1 after reeling off 4 unanswered goals. Ottawa's defense is just way too strong for Tampa Bay here. The Senators are averaging just 2.3 goals per game allowed at home this season. And, Tampa allowed par-for-the-course for them as they have now given up 4.2 goals per game over their last five (and 3.2 per game on the season). Ottawa is now a ridiculous 9-0 against Tampa Bay the last three seasons and 15-3 here in Ottawa since 1996. Ottawa again.