Posted at 3:00 PM EST odds are subject to change.

Pinnacle +206 BET365 +190 SportsInteraction +191 888Sport +190

Chicago +206 over Philadelphia

7:07 PM EST. OT Included. The Blackhawks are among the worst teams in the NHL but we’ll quickly point out that they still have some elite talent on the team and they’ve been getting decent results lately with four wins in their last five games with only loss over that span occurring against the then red-hot Kraken. That said, this one is all about fading Philadelphia as a favorite in this range.

The Flyers are one of the hottest teams in the NHL with eight wins in 10 games. Their only two losses during that span were to Toronto and Boston. So, yeah, John Tortorella has the Flyers playing way above expectations so that very likely means regression is on the way for a team that won a lousy four games out of 23 prior to this current run of good fortune and now there are some distractions.

Anything that takes away focus from the task at hand is worth mentioning. Succeeding at the professional level takes more than just talent. It takes focus, cohesiveness, effort and intensity. The distractions surrounding Ivan Provorov refusing to wear a Pride jersey during warm-up because he’s Russian Orthodox (Like Putin) is gaining steam and has exploded on social media.

NHL beat writers, The Hockey News writers, local media and just about everyone else has an opinion.

Adam Proteau of the Hockey News wrote:

Ivan Provorov has the right to any opinion he chooses. And we have the right to have any opinion on Ivan Provorov that we choose. Like this: he's a shameful human being whose homophobia is only going to get more shameful over the years.

Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Dispatch wrote:

Ivan Provorov is a jerk, but Flyers coach John Tortorella is just as complicit with this cruelness (and with Provorov's statement made by not wearing the Pride logo). Torts prides himself on being a "tough" coach. Well, he sure looked soft last night.

That’s just two examples (there are tons more) but the point is that it’s distracting and it also has the potential to divide. Surely, there are players/coaches/management/personnel on Philadelphia that have a loved one that is gay. Whether it’s a brother, sister, close friend, parent, niece, nephew or otherwise, it’s hurtful and infuriating that anyone would take the position that Provolov has taken. Furthermore, it's not like Philadelphia is some red-neck town from the deep south. It is a major metropolis that is well respresented by the LGBT cummunity. We’re not here to chime in, we’re merely pointing out how a distraction like this can cause a major disruption and division in the locker room. We’re also not discussing some elite team here. No, we’re discussing a team that very recently lost 19 of 23 games and today they’re favored like they’re the Boston Bruins. We’ll bite.

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