Online Betting Overview
The preseason expectations for the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres were high this year. The Flyers were expected to dominate on offense and defense despite giving up offensive weapons Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in the off-season. But the addition of veteran goal scorer Jaromir Jagr was supposed to tie together an offensive unit that is used to utilizing its power and speed to rush the net and score goals. But the Flyers did not expect goaltending challenges. Philadelphia brought in veteran Ilya Bryzgalov to help out second-year goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and, so far, Bryzgalov has been no help at all. The veteran Bryzgalov has a 3-4-1 record and a .870 save percentage. The Flyers are still waiting on the return from Bryzgalov’s contract.

The price per head sports fans in Buffalo are expecting great things from the team’s revamped and very expensive defense. Christian Erhoff and Robyn Regher were given hefty contracts to help replace sub-par performers such as Steve Montador and Craig Rivet. The Sabres have reduced the goals against this season, but it has been primarily because of the play of goaltenders Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth. The Sabres are still waiting to hit its stride and put forth the playoff-bound performance that the fans in Buffalo are waiting for.

Philadelphia Flyers
The bookie software has the Flyers as 9/1 favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season, but the Flyers are definitely not playing like champions at this early juncture of the season. The frustrating thing for the Flyers is that it is scoring more goals than any other team in the league except the Penguins, but it is also giving up more goals than almost any other team in the league. The Flyers paid a lot for a veteran goaltender and Philadelphia may be realizing that Bobrovsky was the answer all along. Bobrovsky is 2-0-0 this season and has played well in the games he has started. Bryzgalov has a 3.45 goals against average this season and he is not living up to his contract.

Buffalo Sabres
The betonline reviews of the new look Buffalo Sabres this season show a team that looks very much like last year’s team. This game against the Flyers will be a good chance for the Sabres to see if it is making any strides towards becoming a playoff contender or not. To this point in the young season, the Sabres have been unable to beat playoff-quality teams and have not looked good in its own end. The Sabres offense has been spotty as well, but the team should have expected the same results on offense from the same players it had last season.

The Bottom Line
These are two teams that had a lot of hype leading up to this season and neither is living up to the expectations. NHL fans are curious to see which of these two teams starts to pull away and establish itself as a playoff team. This will be a very good game, but the Sabres will put on the pressure that decides the outcome.

Pick: Buffalo Sabres

The first month of the NHL season is coming to a close, and already, teams are making a run at the playoffs, while others are being left in the wind. However, with an 82 game nearly seven month long breeders cup betting season, it isn’t far from the realm of possibility, for a team to come from the back of the pack and win the Stanley Cup. With that in mind, today we will be using bookie software to look at a few teams that have the potential to climb into the Stanley Cup playoffs as wild cards.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Toronto finally has a fully healthy roster, as offseason acquisition Tim Connolly is set to make his debut tomorrow night against the New York Rangers. The Leafs are one of only two teams the other being Florida, to not make the playoffs in the post lockout era. Nevertheless, this year’s team looks like the best one yet. Sprinkled by youth and veteran leadership alike, the Leafs have played good hockey in spurts this season. If they can find consistency to their game, they should be able to make a bid for a Stanley Cup playoff spot.

Montreal Canadiens – The Canadiens have not got off to the start that they would have hoped. Goalie Carey Price and offseason signing Erik Cole have been unable to live up to past success early. However, that being said, this is the same Montreal team that was in the Conference finals two years ago, and proved to be Boston’s toughest test in last year’s playoffs. Keeping this in mind, you have to wonder if it is only a matter of time before we see the Habs of old, get into the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup.

NHL fans have a busy slate on Tuesday, and one of the most intriguing matchups comes from Chicago, where the Blackhawks host Anaheim at the United Center. The Ducks have dropped two in a row as they head out on a seven-game road trip, and a win would be a great start, but the Blackhawks have yet to lose in regulation at home.

Ducks Blackhawks Odds – Tuesday, 8:30 PM ET

The Ducks (4-3-0) fell 5-4 at home to Phoenix on Sunday, and even though they scored four goals, they went 0-for-4 on the power play and most BetOnline reviews will tell you that won’t get you very far in the NHL. Ryan Getzlaf potted a pair, while Lubomir Visnovsky and Kurtis Foster notched singles for the Ducks, while Jonas Hiller got chased after five goals on 19 shots. It was a poor outing for the 29-year-old who missed a substantial amount of time last year due to injury, but you have to remember that and realize that he’ll shake the rust off. The Ducks have more than enough firepower (although the power play needs to improve), they just need to slow the opposition down.

The Blackhawks (4-1-2) fell 5-4 in the shootout to Colorado at home in a game that probably shouldn’t have made it that far, but your price per head bookie would tell you that the Avalanche got a spectacular goaltending performance as the Blackhawks outshot them 38-24, including 13-6 in the third period. Jonathan Toews, Michael Frolick, Jamal Mayers and Marian Hossa got on the scoresheet, while Corey Crawford made 20 saves for the Blackhawks, who are tied with Detroit atop the Central as of Monday.

Price per head sports odds should favor the Blackhawks, who are 3-2 in their last five at home against the Ducks, with four games going under the posted total. There is a lot of firepower on both squads so you would assume that it would be a high-scoring game, but Hiller and Crawford are both good goalies who would like to erase their last outing, so this could be a duel. The Ducks have been inconsistent on the road over the last three or four seasons, as in one season they’re good, and the next they’re awful. Last season, they were good, so if you’re a fan of patterns, they should regress away from home this season and it’s always risky to take a West Coast team as they move east. The Blackhawks have looked strong to start the season after a disappointing 2010-11 campaign following their Stanley Cup win, and they should be able to hold off Anaheim for a win when you’re sports betting online.

When Philadelphia Flyers’ general manager Paul Holmgren decided to take the team in a different direction in the offseason, there were more than a few fans in the city of Brotherly Love that voiced their displeasure, and for seemingly good sports betting reason. Holmgren had shipped two of the Flyers’ best players and biggest names out from a team that was just one year removed from a Stanley Cup finals’ appearance, sending captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings and Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, The Flyers received Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, young center Brayden Schenn, and a couple of high draft picks. Holmgren used those picks to select center Sean Couturier in the first round with a second round pick in 2012 still in hand. Perhaps most importantly, Holmgren used the cap space that he had freed up after moving Carter and Richards in order to bring in free agent additions Ilya Bryzgalov and Jaromir Jagr, two key pieces that may have elevated Philadelphia back to the status of the top contender in the Eastern conference.

After mixed sportsbook reviews throughout the offseason, Flyers’ fans have undoubtedly taken to the product on the ice, and for obvious reasons. Philadelphia has looked dominant throughout the first couple of weeks of the season, with three straight wins to open the year including victories over each of the two teams that played in last year’s Stanley Cup finals. The changes to the roster have made for a seamless transition with a renewed depth and determination throughout the lineup, and the possibility of negative cliques in the locker room that had been talked about so often now gone. With a franchise goaltender between the pipes in Bryzgalov, the Flyers have given up an average of less than two goals per game through four contests, while a stacked offense has scored an average of three. Led by new captain Chris Pronger on the blue line, Philadelphia’s defense core is the perfect blend of size, experience, and offensive potential with six players that are all capable of playing solid hockey at both ends of the ice. Perhaps the most notable difference is the size up front, as five of the top-six forwards are all above six-feet with a list that includes Jagr, Simmonds, Voracek, All Star Claude Giroux, and James Van Riemsdyk. The addition of some sandpaper to the fourth line with Max Talbot from the Pittsburgh Penguins is another key, as Holmgren has put together the pay head pieces of what he feels is a championship puzzle.

There is no denying how strong this Flyers’ team is, and it will be interesting to see how they come together throughout the remainder of the season. Philadelphia fans watched two years ago as their team fought hard before falling to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup final, so the transition will be one that is hard to accept at first, but there is reason to believe that if they continue to play the way that they have started, fans will continue to rally behind this NHL year’s Flyers.

The 2011 – 12 NHL season is underway, and already fans and analysts alike believe that they have the answer when it comes to who will win the Stanley Cup for the upcoming season. Whether you look in a magazine, play NHL 12 on Xbox and PS3 or watch the games, chances are you will see at least eight different teams picked to win the Stanley Cup. With that in mind, here is our bookie software prediction for the Stanley Cup finals.

Come June, the Buffalo Sabres will take on the Los Angeles Kings in a thrilling seven game affair to crown the Stanley Cup Champion. On paper and through the first handful of games this season, Buffalo and Los Angeles, appear to be the teams to beat in the East and Western conferences. Buffalo added to there all around team, while the Kings gave their offense a boost through trades and free agency.

On paper, the Sabres have a better chance at winning the Stanley Cup, because of the veteran experience sprinkled throughout the lineup. Top defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and Robyn Regher have each been to the Stanley Cup before. Ehrhoff came within a win this June of becoming a Stanley Cup Champion. His experience, along with overall skill both offensive and defensively, should do wonders to Buffalo’s chances of going on an extended playoff run.

What’s more, the sports betting addition of Jonas Enroth to backup all world goalie Ryan Miller, should allow the latter to play fewer games during the regular season. This in turn, should allow Miller to be fresh for a long playoff run.

Conversely, the additions of Simon Gagne and Mike Richards provide the LA Kings with two bonafide 30 to 40 goal scorers. In the past, the Kings Achilles heel has been their offense, as they have been shut out on numerous occasions. This year however, the Kings should be fine all around.

This is no Bet Online scam: Pittsburgh is still near the top of the NHL betting ladder, even without Sidney Crosby, and they won two of three on their Western Canada trip to start the season. On Tuesday, they’ll open their campaign at home against Florida, who is also on the road to kick off their schedule.

Panthers Penguins Odds – Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET

Florida gave head coach Kevin Dineen a win in his debut as they blanked the Islanders 2-0 in New York, getting goals from Stephen Weiss and Jason Garrison in the first period. Jose Theodore stopped all 27 shots he faced for the Panthers, who won’t be given much credit by sportsbook reviews, but that can make for a dangerous team as no one expects anything out of Florida, especially with a new head coach. Brian Campbell had a pair of assists in his first game with the Panthers, and he can provide an offensive spark from the blue line; don’t be surprised if Florida’s power play improves immensely over the course of the year, although they won’t be Stanley Cup contenders or anything.

Pittsburgh almost came out of Western Canada with a perfect record after wins in Vancouver and Calgary, but they were beaten 2-1 in the shootout. Kris Letang scored on the power play in the first period for the Penguins, who were shut down for the rest of the game and they were without Evgeni Malkin, who left the pregame skate with a lower body injury. The Penguins went through the second half of last season without either Crosby or Malkin, but pay per head players watched them go to the playoffs, where they lost to Tampa Bay in seven games. With Marc-Andre Fleury at the back (he had the night off as Brent Johnson stopped 34 shots), Pittsburgh is still a very good team; they’re just not as dynamic offensively.

Cost per head odds should find the Penguins as the favorites at home in this NHL affair, and they’ve won eight of their last 10 in Pittsburgh against the Panthers, with seven games going under the posted total. Check on Malkin’s status for this game as the Penguins should be able to win this without him, but it would be much simpler if he were on the bench. Dineen won’t be intimidated by playing in Pittsburgh as his best years as a player came in Philadelphia, so getting booed by Penguins fans shouldn’t be an issue. We’re still a little skeptical on the Panthers and for good reason; they’ve never given us a chance to be optimistic, especially since Roberto Luongo left. Take the Pittsburgh Penguins at your favorite sports betting websites.