BEST LINES:  Pinnacle o6 -113 Bet 365 o6 -120 SportsInteraction o6 -120 5DIMES o6 -115

Posted at 2:30 PM EST.

8:05 PM EST. OT included. We’re making two bets on this game because we’re so confident that the Blackhawks will score at least three goals and should that come to fruition, we cannot lose both bets. We’ll therefore play Chicago -½ +105 and this same game to go over the number.

Ottawa has scored or been scored upon five or more times in four of its last five games. In other words, when they are not scoring five times, they’re allowing five goals and that’s because the Senators are loaded with point producers but their defense and goaltending is brutally awful. Over the past five weeks, the Sens rank 28th or worse in every 5v5 key defensive metric, which includes, High Danger Chances Against, Corsi Against Per 60 and xGA per 60 minutes. The Senators are a series of costly turnovers waiting to happen. Every game they have several defensive breakdowns and they don’t have the goaltending to bail them out. They are also of the mindset that they have to score four or five to win.

The Blackhawks might be really loose here, as they are in a position to miss the playoffs for the first time in a decade and that means letting it all hang out. Aside from that, they are finally playing a team with a weak defense and weak goaltending after running into a slew of hot goaltenders lately. What we know for sure is that the Blackhawks are creating more scoring chances than 90% of the league over the last six weeks and they rank highly in several offensive metrics without the goals. We saw them bury seven goals last Saturday in a 7-1 victory over Washington and we saw them bury eight goals on this same Ottawa team back in early January when Patrick Kane went off for five points. The Blackhawks are routinely firing away 40 or more shots on net and figure to take advantage of that weak goaltending and defense here against a wounded foe.

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