Calgary Flames at Philadelphia Flyers, Friday November 26^th 1:00 PM

The Flames will try to turn their season around when they face the best team in the Eastern conference and one of the hottest teams in the league on Friday night. The Flyers have won three straight and seem to have picked up right where they left off last season when they bulldozed through the playoffs only to lose to Chicago in the Stanley Cup Finals. Philly is led by their young captain; center Mike Richards, who is a two-way competitor – able to dominate the game by checking the opposition’s top player and by creating offense. The key to the Flyers’ great start, and one of the biggest surprises in NHL news this season, has been their improvement at the goaltending position. 22-year old Russian Sergei Bobrovsky has appeared out of nowhere to become one of the NHL’s best backstops and the rookie has finally given the Flyers a tender who can match the skill of the players up front. Bobrovsky will be tested by Flames’ captain Jarome Iginla, one of the league’s most prolific scorers, as the winger will be eager to get his team on the right path.

Tampa Bay Lightning at Washington Capitals, Friday November 26^th 5:00 PM

Friday’s game in Washington will feature a battle between two of the league’s best players. The Lightning’s Steven Stamkos is currently on pace for one of the greatest statistical seasons ever as he has already recorded 38 points through 22 games. After leading the league in hockey scores last season, Stamkos has emerged as one of the top talents in the NHL. Stamkos has the full package of skills: speed, size, passing and shooting accuracy. Capitals’ winger Alexander Ovechkin can never be left out of the best player discussion and the Russian’s 29 points are third in the league behind Stamkos and Sidney Crosby. These are two offensive teams with marginal goalkeeping and defense so expect a game with plenty of scores.

San Jose Sharks at Vancouver Canucks, Friday November 26^th 10:00 PM

The Canucks host one of the NHL’s best scoring lines on Friday. The Sharks’ Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau are a difficult trio to stop but Vancouver has the defensive personnel to limit them. Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo is a perennial all-star who can use his experience practicing with Team Canada when preparing to face the Sharks’ Canadian scorers. Vancouver center Ryan Kesler, a checking specialist, will team with defensemen Alexander Edler and Christian Ehrhoff to limit Thornton and his wingers. Vancouver has a dangerous top line of their own, led by the Sedin Twins Daniel and Henrik so expect a few shows of skill as these two Western Conference powers battle it out.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators, Saturday November 27^th 7:00 PM

Despite the two teams’ average to poor placing in the NHL standings, this game should always be circled on the calendar. The Maple Leafs and Senators have struggled to produce strong NHL results this season but the “Battle for Ontario” will nonetheless be an entertaining contest on Saturday night. The Leafs’ second line of Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur will be imperative in providing NHL scores for the team. MacArthur leads Toronto with 18 points and Ottawa has struggled defensively thus far. This rivalry always gets chippy so don’t be surprised to see Leafs’ enforcer Colton Orr get involved to draw the ire of the Ottawa crowd.

Chicago Blackhawks at Los Angeles Kings, Saturday November 27^th 10:30 PM

These two young teams have had opposite starts to the season. The reigning Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks have stumbled to a .500 record while the Kings have been enthused in accumulating 26 points thus far. The game will feature a matchup between one of the league’s top young forward lines against an elite and equally youthful defensive core. ‘Hawks center Jonathan Toews has been one of the few Chicago players who has performed well at both ends this year and Kings’ defensemen Drew Doughty is as brilliant scoring the puck as he is stripping it from opposing forwards. Doughty is a smooth skater who is riding a three-game point streak so expect him to handle the puck with confidence against a team that has been error-prone in checking to start the season.

If you’re betting on college football, you’re going to ride the top teams as much as you can. It’s the same in hockey, and here are the top five to ride so far in this young NHL betting season.

Washington- There isn’t a more sure thing in the NHL than the Capitals at home, where they are 10-1-1. Any time they’re at home, it doesn’t matter against you, take them and run to the house.

Detroit- The Red Wings are a bit more balanced than the Capitals, although like most teams,they’re better at home. Detroit has too many veterans on their team to be bothered by a little crowd noise.

Philadelphia- The Flyers are tied with Washington for the league lead in points, and they’re good both at home and on the road. Along with the top two, they have nine home wins, but the Flyers are also a stellar 5-2-2 on the road.

Columbus- A surprising inclusion, but the Blue Jackets are off to a good start and it’s because they have six wins at home, and seven on the road. If they can improve their home form even a little bit, watch out: Columbus could be this year’s Phoenix.

Pittsburgh- You can never count out a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and even though they got off to a slow start, the Penguins are warming up, and they’ve been better on the road than at home, which you can expect to change. When that happens, the Penguins will be an even stronger team to lay a bet on.

NFL football betting players know all about rivalries, and there are a couple of matchups on Saturday night in the NHL that fulfill all aspects of a full-blooded rivalry. Here is a look at the two games to keep an eye on.

Maple Leafs Canadiens Betting – Saturday, 7:00 PM ET

The Canadiens should be favored at home in the NHL’s best rivalry, but the Maple Leafs always seem to get up when they go to Montreal, coming away with the win in four of their last five trips to the Bell Center. Four of those games have gone over the posted total, and two of the last three have been one-goal games.

Blackhawks Canucks Betting – Saturday, 10:00 PM ET

The Canucks should be favored at home after a trip through the East, and revenge will be on their minds as the Blackhawks eliminated them in the playoffs for the second straight season last year. But again, the road team could have the edge as the Blackhawks have won four of their last five trips to GM Place, scoring 17 goals in three games there during last year’s postseason meeting. Three of those games went over the posted total. But the Canucks may have a small edge as the Blackhawks will be in Calgary on Saturday night, so they’ll be hoping that the Flames can soften them up. Even still, this is going to be a great game, and it’ll be a tough call in your sports book.

NFL football betting players have their share of disappointments this season, and while it’s only early in the NHL betting season, a few players are off to slow starts.

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver- The Canucks’ goalie has been all over the place this season, even with a four-game winning streak. He’s given up 10 goals in those four games, and
Vancouver needs him to be better.

Tuukka Rask, Boston- Another disappointing goalie, this isn’t even really Rask’s fault: it’s just Tim Thomas has been lights out. At this point, how will Rask’s confidence be when he gets called?

Olli Jokinen, Calgary- Jokinen gets the nod over Jarome Iginla, who at least plays with passion. Jokinen has two goals in 13 games, and he’s really struggled in Calgary, yet they keep bringing him back.

Jay Bouwmeester, Calgary- Bouwmeester is possibly the biggest disappointment in the NHL, and he seems to shrink away from the spotlight. He was great down in Florida where no
one was paying attention, but since moving to Calgary, he hasn’t been the dynamic defense that we saw in junior hockey and in Florida.

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey/Ryan Miller, Buffalo- Both of these great goalies have battled injuries this year, but neither played all that great before they got hurt. We expect both of them to come back strong, perhaps stronger than the other goalies on this list, but their teams need them badly because they don’t score that much. Without Brodeur and Miller, their teams’ NHL betting odds go down the tubes.

Those who are betting on NFL lines are getting into the busy part of the season, but for NHL betting players, they’re just getting warmed up as the weather gets colder. Not much has changed in terms of Stanley Cup odds, which means the favorites still come out of the East.

Pittsburgh and Washington are the Stanley Cup favorites right now, and even though both got off to sluggish starts, the Penguins and Capitals are starting to get their game together. The Capitals, in particular, are starting to score goals at the pace we’re accustomed to seeing, but we all know they can score goals. They need to work on defense and goaltending before the playoffs. Vancouver, Detroit and the defending champions from Chicago are next on the list, and we’re betting heavy on the Red Wings to come out of the West. They’re a veteran team who didn’t play as well as they could have last year, and they also had a head coach who may have been distracted with his role as Canada’s head coach at the Olympics.

The team to watch for NHL betting players may be the Boston Bruins, who have gotten otherworldly goaltending from Tim Thomas to start the season. If the 36-year-old starts to stumble a bit, the Bruins can always go back to Tuukka Rask. But the Bruins need to prove that they can light the lamp on a consistent basis, and if they do that, they could be worth a wager if you’re sports betting online.