Saturday Night Hockey Parlay Picks

Game 1 Preview: Florida Panthers @ St. Louis Blues

Florida is not a good hockey team. The scoring isn’t there, the defense seems to really be missing Jay Bouwmeester, and Tomas Vokoun looks lost in net most of the time. They played well in a 4-3 loss to Ottawa on Wednesday, but you don’t get points for playing well in a losing effort. The injuries to David Booth and Radek Dvorak won’t make the next few weeks any easier for the Panthers.

The Blues are coming off a 2-0 loss to Phoenix, and have now lost two straight. St. Louis has looked inconsistent all year, and haven’t won two in a row since they swept the Detroit series in Sweden. But this happened last year. The team was 14th in the West at the all-star break before breaking out, eventually finishing 6th in the conference. It’s too early to know if that will or will not happen again, but you have to believe there is enough talent on the team to break out of the slump they’re going through.

Pick: St. Louis Blues

Game 2 Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Montreal Canadians

The Maple Leafs finally got their first win of the season on Tuesday, ending an eight-game losing streak to start the season. The team got a boost from the return of rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson, and he seems to have become the de facto No. 1 goalie in Hogtown. The strong offensive showings this week against Anaheim, Dallas and Buffalo were nice to see, but the team is still susceptible to porous play. It may take another eight games for another Leaf victory.

The Canadians officially have a goalie controversy. Jaroslav Halak has been playing wonderfully as Carey Price sits on the bench. Even Price himself has acknowledged Halak’s good play, saying he deserves to start as long as he’s hot. Obviously Price isn’t happy with his bench status, but the Habs have to do whatever gives their team a better chance to win. Right now, that means putting Halak between the pipes.

Pick: Montreal Canadians

Game 3 Preview: Detroit Red Wings @ Calgary Flames

Hard to think of a team that’s fallen harder than Detroit this year. There goaltending, although admittedly never a real strength for the team, has been absolutely horrid this season. Neither Chris Osgood nor Jimmy Howard seems capable of being the number one goalie for the Wings. It may be time to look outside the organization for some help. But goaltending isn’t the only problem. Pavel Datsyuk was held scoreless before scoring a pair earlier in the week. His offensive success is just as important to the Red Wings as the goaltending.

The Flames, however, are playing some pretty solid puck. Jarome Iginla is heating up, the defense is playing incredibly well and Mikka Kipprusoff has been his solid self. They blew a 2-0 lead to the Avs on Wednesday, but the team has been playing well enough that it can be forgiven. Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginla both scored in that game, the first time this season the duo has scored in the same game. Expect more of that in the near future.

Pick: Calgary Flames