BEST LINES: Pinnacle -1½ +330 Bet365 -1½ +300 SportsInteraction -1 +200  5DIMES -1½ +325

BEST LINES: Pinnacle +125 Bet365 +115 SportsInteraction +120 5DIMES +120

Posted at 2:45 PM EST 

Before we begin and until further notice, we’re going to be splitting up our NHL underdogs into two bets. We’re playing them straight up for 1 unit and we’ll be playing them on the reverse puck line (-1½) for 1 unit, thus making up our traditional 2 unit bet. The thinking is that if the dog loses, we lose our bet anyway. If the game goes into OT, which is a coin-toss anyway, we lose our -1½ bet but have a chance to profit a pork-chop if we happen to get lucky and win it in the extra time. If our team is winning by a goal, we know for sure we’ll get a crack at an empty netter and there is also a good chance that if our team is ahead, it might be by more than one goal anyway. Therefore, our bet for this game and every dog we play will be -1½ for 1 unit and straight up for one unit.

-------------------------------------------

7:05 PM EST. OT included. The Devils are one of the surprise teams this season after they jumped out to a 6-1 start before losing their last game. We cashed a few tickets with them but now that the market has caught up to them, we’ll jump ship, at least for this one game. First off, Cory Schneider is out, which leaves Keith Kinkaid in goal. Kinkaid has good numbers this season in a small sample size but he’s no Cory Schneider. Secondly, the Devils six victories look very pretty on paper but underneath the hood, the Devils have major issues. The Devils rank 25th in puck possession time. They outshot only two of their first eight opponents and were badly outshot by Toronto (50-31) and the Rangers (31-19). The Devils are giving up far too many scoring chances and while we absolutely like the new look and style that they play, they are much better suited in the underdog role. Lastly, all that momentum from a strong start has been taken away with the Devils having been off for a full week since they last played last Friday against the Sharks.

The Senators were at home to Philadelphia last night and escaped with a 5-4 OT victory. The market puts a little too much emphasis on fading teams in the second game of back-to-backs but we don’t. These teams are often taking back a bigger price because of it, which applies here. The Senators are too dangerous when being offered a price. Earlier this season, Ottawa took a trip to the Canadian West Coast to face Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and all they did was outscore that trio 15-3 in winning all three games. Incidentally, they did it without Erik Karlsson but he’s back and has eight points in five games since returning. Another factor influencing the line here is that Ottawa will also go with its backup goaltender in Mike Condon but we couldn’t be happier about it. Craig Anderson may have the pedigree but Condon is the better goaltender. Condon is a #1 for sure that is playing in the shadows of Anderson in much the same way Andrei Vasilevskiy was playing in Ben Bishop’s shadow for Tampa Bay the last few years. Vasilevskiy’s play this year is unmatched so Condon is certainly not the first #2 that should be a #1. Mike Condon is outstanding and so, too, have the Sens been on the road this season. You may remember last year what happened after teams’ were given a seven day bye. They returned to the ice flat as hell and although it wasn’t a bye week, New Jersey’s seven days between games almost assures us that they won’t be as energized as they were to start the year. Sens a strong value play here.

The bets are as follows:

Ottawa -1½ +330 for 1 unit

Ottawa +125 for 1 unit

Open an account today at Pinnacle Sports and take advantage of their -104 style pricing on sides and totals, which is 60% better than other sportsbooks.