Chicago is rocketing up the NHL standing with a current five-game winning streak, and they’ll look to extend it to six games on Tuesday when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins, who will be without their captain once again.

Blackhawks Penguins Odds – Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET

The Blackhawks (21-8-4) defeated Calgary 4-2 at home on Sunday, and some sportsbook reviews would point to Chicago’s ability to win close games during this streak as they have won all five by two goals or less, and three of the games have gone to overtime or the shootout. Steve Montador, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa lit the lamp for Chicago, while Ray Emery stopped 22 shots in his seventh straight start. The Blackhawks are a favorite among those who use price per head services, even though they’re on the cusp of a goaltending controversy as Emery is taking the No.1 spot from Corey Crawford; in fact, it may already be gone and that will be a major decision for head coach Joel Quenneville, who picked up his 600th career victory in the win against the Flames.

The Penguins (18-11-4) had been struggling with four losses in five games, but they awakened enough for an 8-3 romp over Buffalo at home on Saturday. Pittsburgh was powered by a hat trick from Evgeni Malkin, while Jason Williams, Simon Despres, James Neal, Deryk Engelland and Chris Kunitz notched singles for the Penguins, while Marc-Andre Fleury made 16 stops on the night. On the same day that the Penguins put captain Sidney Crosby on the injured list with more concussion issue, it was fitting that Malkin stepped up and led the Pittsburgh offense because they’re going to need him to do that regularly until Crosby comes back. Remember, Malkin was hurt most of last year with a knee injury and if the Penguins are going to stay in the good graces of those that use price per head sports software, Malkin has to inspire his teammates.

Pittsburgh should be the favorites at home in this contest, although the Blackhawks are 10-6-1 on the road this season, while the Penguins are 9-3-2 at CONSOL Energy Center. Both of these teams figure to be in the hunt when it comes to Stanley Cup betting favorites and even without Crosby, there is a lot of offensive skill on the ice. The Penguins will have their hands full with a deep Chicago lineup, but Malkin is the player on either side that can take over a game by himself (with all due respect to Chicago captain Jonathan Toews and Kane). We’re riding with the hot team and taking Chicago away from home at our favorite sports betting sites.

A quick glance at the Eastern conference standings wouldn’t reveal much in terms of surprise, unless that is you notice the Florida Panthers in third place overall, and in the top spot in the Southeast division despite being labeled as sports betting underdogs. In a group that at least for now includes the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s rather strange to see the Panthers sitting in first place as we make our way through the month of December. But on the heels of consecutive losses, now is the time when Florida’s slide could begin, and that will open the door for a true Eastern conference contender to move up in to a playoff spot.

It isn’t that the Panthers haven’t played good hockey, or that Panthers’ general manager Dale Tallon didn’t do an excellent job of bringing quality players in to the fold down south with limited resources this past summer according to the numbers on the Betonline site. After all, Kris Versteeg seems to finally be ready to reach his potential with 13 goals and 31 points, while Brian Campbell already has 22 assists as the two biggest free agent pickups from the summer of 2011. Stephen Weiss is playing excellent two-way hockey with an incredible plus-17 rating, and the team has some solid depth at both ends of the ice. But the biggest problem for the Panthers at this point is in goal, where the team was forced to pull Jose Theodore, and allow Scott Clemmensen to play the final 20 minutes of a 6-1 loss to the New York Rangers. For now, Florida wants rookie netminder Jacob Markstrom to concentrate on improving for another year before they make him their starter, which leaves the job up to Theodore and Clemmensen. While neither has been an awful option so far this year, it is hard to argue that either one can be the No. 1 for a legitimate playoff contender. Despite getting good goaltending so far and playing sound fundamentally, the Panthers still have the worst goal differential among the top five teams according to the numbers the pay head bookies look at, and many feel as though it is likely to get worse as teams begin to figure them out.

The Capitals have too much talent to remain on the outside looking in, and if the Lightning can get some quality play from their goaltending, they should be back in the mix. While this could take time, Washington will be in first place in the Southeast division by February, and that will leave the Panthers fighting for a spot in the top-eight. The Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, and New Jersey Devils are all teams currently on the outside looking in, and considering that Montreal is finally getting healthier and the way that the Devils closed out last season, it will only be a matter of time before one of them emerges as the legitimate Eastern conference contender that overtakes the Panthers in the standings.

Monday night midway through the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers sports betting game, the board of governors and NHL league offices announced a radical chance to the league for the 2012 – 13 season. For those who couldn’t tune into the game, what you missed, was the announcement for realignment next season. The concept of realignment next year was met with mixed results, as there is still plenty of bookie software details to iron out. Today we’ll examine the realignment plan and how playoffs will work.

The NHL will have a whole different feel next year, as the league adapts a four conference format that some argue was built for 32 instead of 30 teams. With this in mind, there is speculation, that the NHL may indeed expand to two more markets, allowing 32 teams to be in the league. As it stands for next year, the Eastern Conference has been split into a two seven team conferences, while the Western Conference with the addition of Winnipeg, has been split into two eight team conferences.

The conferences are as followed, conference A will include the current Atlantic Division along with Carolina and Washington, conference B will be the Northeast division with Florida and Tampa Bay, conference C will be Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Winnipeg, Minnesota and Dallas, and conference D will be Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, San Jose, Colorado, Phoenix, Anaheim, and Los Angeles.

One of the more confusing aspects of the new realignment is the playoff seeding. Essentially, the top four teams in each conference make the playoffs, for a total of 16 teams. The first round of the playoffs will have the top seeds in each conference face the fourth seed in their conference, while seeds two and three face off. Then in round two, the winners of the first round matchups, will face each other, with the winner of the conference playoffs, moving on to face another conference in the semi finals, before two teams meet up in the Stanley Cup Finals.

After Toronto Maple Leafs fans watch their team host New Jersey earlier in the night, they should turn to the state of California for their late game as there is an interesting matchup brewing in Anaheim. The Ducks are now 0-for-2 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, and they’ll be hoping that the third time is a charm when they host the Los Angeles Kings at the Honda Center.

Kings Ducks Odds – Tuesday, 10:00 PM ET

The Kings (13-9-4) came up just short in a 2-1 loss at home to Montreal on Saturday, as Dustin Penner netted a power-play marker in the second period, but Los Angeles couldn’t find the game-tying goal in a scoreless third period. Companies that use bookie software should have Jonathan Quick near the top of the Vezina favorites right now, but he was given a rest and Jonathan Bernier still played well, stopping 25 shots for the Kings, but their offensive troubles continues in the early part of the season. Only Anaheim and the New York Islanders have scored fewer goals than the Kings, and offense was supposed to be the least of their worries, so Los Angeles fans can only hope that the team gels soon up front.

The Ducks (7-14-5) have now dropped nine of their last 10 overall (two in overtime) after a 5-3 loss at home to Minnesota, losing an early two-goal lead along the way. Ryan Getzlaf, Saku Koivu and Cam Fowler all found the back of the net for the Ducks, but price per head sports companies that help set lines aren’t going to get behind Anaheim until they get their defensive act together: to go along with their woeful goal scoring, the Ducks are fourth-worst in the league in goals allowed and that simply isn’t going to cut it in the NHL. Jonas Hiller made 31 saves for the Ducks, who were outshot 36-27.

The NHL betting odds for this game could go either way, given the way that Anaheim is floundering right now. The Ducks are 2-3 SU and ATS in their last five at home against the Kings with three games going under the posted total, and a sportsbook review of their history shows that Anaheim has already lost twice to Los Angeles this season, a 2-1 shootout loss at the Staples Center on November 16th and then a 5-3 loss at home the next night. Simply put, Anaheim is in danger of losing their entire season and a loss at home to a division and state rival would be a huge blow. The Kings are playing well as of late and they’ll jump on any reason to pile more pressure on the Ducks, so go with Los Angeles in your online sports book.

With the majority of teams already passed the quarter mark of the NHL regular season, the biggest story so far has been the incredible parity throughout the league. While only five points separates second place in the Eastern conference from ninth, that number is even tighter in the Western conference, where the only a single point separates third through tenth. While there is still a long way to go, the tiny difference in the standings has made it hard to separate the contenders from the pretenders early on, but here is a quick look at what we know.

In the Eastern conference, only two of the top-eight teams currently in the top-eight failed to make the postseason a year ago, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers off to hot starts to replace the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens from last year’s standings. Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul have led the high-flying Maple Leafs to the top of the standings even without netminder James Reimer healthy, while the Panthers have surprised everyone with some capable goaltending from Jose Theodore and a ton of offensive additions coming together including Kris Versteeg and the league’s top-scoring stable of defenseman. But while both teams are off to hot starts, it must be noted that the former Atlanta Thrashers led the Southeast division around this time a year ago and failed to make the playoffs, while Toronto hasn’t tasted the postseason since the NHL lockout year. If the Canadiens can get healthy and Tampa Bay can improve in their own sports betting end, they could make things difficult for the Maple Leafs and Florida, while the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins all appear to be locks to make the playoffs.

In the Western conference, there has been a ton of pay head turnaround with the Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, and Anaheim Ducks among the teams on the outside looking in while the defending conference champion Vancouver Canucks are stuck in seventh. While the East was easy to break down in terms of change from a year ago and the factors that made that big difference, it isn’t nearly as easy in the west where so many teams have proven they can compete. The St. Louis Blue have turned things around under new head coach Ken Hitchcock and have won three in a row, while the Minnesota Wild are just two points back of the Chicago Blackhawks for first place. The Blackhawks, Canucks, and Detroit Red Wings all appear to be locks to get in to the postseason as legitimate contenders, but beyond that big three anything can happen.

With the standings so close in both conferences there is little doubt that a lot will change in the betonline standings between now and the end of the regular season, the only question being which teams are legitimate and which need some more seasoning. The next month will be crucial in determining the contenders from the pretenders ahead of the NHL trade deadline, and while it may be tempting to jump on some hot teams in the early going, it may be a better idea to stick with the teams that should be locks to make the postseason.

The NHL has had an action packed first quarter of the season, as things could literally not be any tighter. Entering tonight’s action, eight points separate the first place team in the Eastern Conference from the last place team. On the other hand, in the Western Conference, seven points are the distinguishing feat between the first and last bookie software teams. Here are the latest picks.

Boston Bruins v Buffalo Sabres – The Bruins and Sabres collide in a matchup that was expected to be the talk of the Northeast Division this season. During the offseason, the Sabres were one of the busier teams, acquiring a few marquee free agents. On the contrary, the Bruins kept their roster basically the same after winning the first Stanley Cup in nearly 40 years. However, the main talk regarding tonight’s game at least from a media standpoint, is will the Sabres seek revenge, for Bruins star Milan Lucic injuring star goalie Ryan Miller?

In our opinion, this game will be a tight checking affair, as the points at this point in the season, are much more important then getting revenge. As well, most revenge games physically, are from a team that is far out of the playoff picture taking on a contender. For that reason, this game means too much statistically, and fans can expect to take the under.

Chicago Blackhawks v San Jose Sharks – In a rematch of the sports betting Western Finals from two years ago, the struggling Blackhawks take on the San Jose Sharks, in their first game since getting demolished nine to two by the Edmonton Oilers. Chicago has struggled mightily this season, as their power play has been non-existent. On the contrary, San Jose is cruising at the moment, and will be looking to continue their dominant ways by beating Chicago.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were always due for a letdown after a huge emotional win over Washington on Saturday night, and now they’ll try to bounce back from a loss when they continue on a southern road trip in Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.

Maple Leafs Lightning Odds – Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET

Toronto (11-8-2) got off to a slow start in a 3-2 loss in Carolina on Sunday, but a Bodog review would have told you to avoid the Leafs a night after a 7-1 thrashing of the Capitals at home in front of a nationally-televised audience. Phil Kessel continued his torrid start to the season with a pair of third-period goals, while Ben Scrivens had 38 saves for the Leafs, who are still missing No.1 goalie James Reimer due to a concussion. Overall, Toronto has lost six of their last eight but as of Monday, they were still tied with Buffalo atop the Northeast division. They’re also counting on their blue line to step in the face of an injury to Mike Komiserek , who is out for at least two months with a broken arm.

The Lightning (9-8-2) have dropped three of four after a 4-2 loss to New Jersey, and a 3-0 deficit in the second period sealed their fate. Martin St. Louis and Ryan Shannon lit the lamp, while Dwayne Roloson stopped 20 shots for the Lightning, who suffered their second loss of the season at home, and your per head bookie will tell you that teams need to protect their home ice to be a contender in the NHL regular season: Tampa Bay is 6-2-0 at St. Pete Times Forum so far in 2011-12 and when they get their road form up to par, they’ll challenge for the Eastern Conference title.

Your bookie software should favor the Lightning at home, where they are 4-1 in their last five against Toronto, with three games coming in over the posted total. The Leafs are 5-5 on the road this year and with their issues in goal due to the injury issues of Reimer, the defense has been poor as of late, and the injury to Komiserek doesn’t help matters. The Lightning are strong at home and they won’t want to lose two in a row in front of their fans, so that could mean a long night for whoever starts in goal for Toronto. It will likely be Jonas Gustavsson, who played very well against Washington on Saturday night and he needed it as he was taking a bit of heat in the Toronto media. It could start up again as the Lightning should be your sports betting online pick at home on Tuesday.

Sports Betting Overview
The Nashville Predators had been building quite a team until some of the key players were lost to free agency last off-season. But that did not seem to affect the remaining players very much as the Predators are second in the Central Division and look to be challenging for a playoff spot. The Predators are a hard-working bunch of hockey players that will not dazzle you with their brilliance or make you think back to the 1980’s glory days of the Edmonton Oilers. The Predators grind in the corners and make smart passes to the center of the ice. Occasionally, a Predator may miss an empty net from only a few feet out, but those things happen. The Predators have good goaltending and figure to be around when the playoffs start next year.

The Minnesota Wild has been quietly building a contender for the past few years, but now the secret is out. Any of the price per head sports fans in Minnesota that had never heard of goaltender Niklas Backstrom will start hearing about him now. Backstrom has two shutouts and a 1.97 goals against average already in this young season. The Wild play a suffocating style of defense that takes up large portions of the ice for most of the game. But the Wild do have good scorers such as Matt Cullen and Devin Setoguchi that can score goals at key moments. This is a good team in Minnesota, and the Wild fans may have more to cheer about when the playoffs arrive.

Nashville Predators
The bookie software shows that the Predators will go only as far as goaltender Pekka Rinne can take it. By the looks of things, that could be pretty far. In 17 games played this season, Rinne has won 10 of them and has three shutouts to go along with a 2.12 goals against average. He is helped by s stifling defense that will have its hands full with some of these Minnesota Wild forwards. But Rinne should be able to stand up against the onslaught that the Wild will bring. Don’t forget that the Predators can score goals as well. The Predators have 50 goals on the season compared to Minnesota’s 41. If Nashville needs to turn on the bet online power to score some goals, it can certainly do that.

Minnesota Wild
The Wild pretty much work the same way that Nashville does. Minnesota will do only as well as Backstrom does, but Minnesota has a strong defense and creative goal scorers that could give the Predators problems. Setoguchi is the one that the Predators will have to keep an eye on as he has been able to put the puck in the net more consistently in the last few games. With Backstrom coming off of a shutout win on the road in Colorado, it is not out of the question to think that he could do it again at home in Minnesota.

The Bottom Line
The NHL fans in Minnesota are hard to please because they know their hockey. But the Wild are playing an exciting brand of hockey that has made the fans in Minnesota believe that this team can make the playoffs. The Predators will be there come playoff time as well, but this game will be a grinding affair that will see the Predators falling just short.

Pick: Minnesota Wild

When the Montreal Canadiens welcomed back Mike Cammaleri and Scott Gomez to their lineup prior to their 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators, it may have served as a sign of things to come for a club that is slowly beginning to piece things together after a slow start. The Canadiens have won six of their past eight games on the heels of a six-game slide, and have climbed back into the Eastern conference playoff picture after being buried early on. The key to Montreal’s success could be the return of several notable NHL players, as the team looks to finally play at full strength.

The biggest addition will be the return of Andrei Markov, who continues to make progress in the rehab of a knee injury that has kept him out for most of the past two seasons. Unlike last time when Montreal welcomed him back too soon, the team is now confident that he can make a long term return now that the knee is back to full strength. It could take a couple of games for the former All Star to get back to a high level after missing so much time, but when he gets there he will give the Canadiens that top defenseman they have been lacking. Markov will undoubtedly skate in the top-four at even strength, while also getting top powerplay minutes and time shorthanded as well. A strong point producer, Markov is the type of defenseman that can accelerate the team’s play at both ends of the ice, and his return will be vital for a team that will have to continue to battle to make up for a slow sports betting start.

While Andrei Kostitsyn should also make his return soon after missing a couple of games, the Canadiens will get another big boost on defense, where Chris Campoli will draw back into the lineup soon. Signed to round out the top-six, Campoli is another player that could see some time in special teams situations, and although he won’t have as big of an impact as Markov, the depth will surely make an intertops difference in Montreal.

As we approach the quarter mark of the season in the NHL, the Canadiens are right there in the thick of things in the East at 7-7-2. Young forwards Max Pacioretty and Lars Eller appear to finally be blossoming in to their roles, with Pacioretty surprising everyone by leading the Canadiens in scoring with seven goals. Tomas Plekanec has a team-high 14 points and continues to be one of the most underrated players in the NHL with the ability to perform in all situations, while more should be expected from the other veterans including Cammalleri, Gomez, Brian Gionta, and Eric Cole. Part of the problem has been a lack of consistency out of the gate, something that should be fixed with more urgency. There is still time for the team to turn things around in Montreal, and with the return of a couple of key pieces, they should be ready to make a pay head run in the Eastern conference standings.

Sports Betting Overview
The Chicago Blackhawks knew that it had found its goaltender when Corey Crawford took the starting job from veteran Marty Turco last season and got the Blackhawks into the playoffs. After Chicago won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2009-2010 season, there was a fire sale of all of the role players that helped Chicago win the championship. That made the 2010-2011 season uncomfortable for players and fans. But the core of that championship team was left intact, and now the new role players in Chicago have helped the Blackhawks to be a top Western Conference contender once again.

It has been a rough year for Canucks’ goalie Roberto Luongo. The price per head sports fans have been extremely hard on Luongo ever since the Canucks lost the Cup last year to the Boston Bruins. Luongo does not help his own cause by having public tantrums when he is replaced in net or when he pouts in the locker room because he did not start. When this season started, it was obvious that Roberto Luongo was not focused. He was letting in goals that he would normally stop, but the team stood behind him. It looks like things are turning around for Luongo and the Canucks after a rough start to the season. This game against the Blackhawks will be a good test to see how far the Canucks have come.

Chicago Blackhawks
The price per head bookie experts noticed something about the Blackhawks after its Stanley Cup win in 2009-2010. While the Blackhawks were allowing players like Dustin Byfuglein and Ben Eager to leave, it was keeping veterans like Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith around to maintain stability in the locker room. Marian Hossa knows that superstars like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews operate better when there is no drama or disruption in the locker room. That sort of stability has allowed the Blackhawks to survive the post-Cup fire sale and is one of the main reasons why Chicago is at the top of the Central Division at the early part of this season. This is a very balanced Chicago Blackhawks team that is getting decent goaltending. Corey Crawford is consistent but not spectacular. But that may be all the Blackhawks need to stay on top this year.

Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks fans have loved the regular season success the team has had the past few years, but the playoff failures are starting to take their toll on the team and its fans. A 5 dimes review of last year’s Stanley Cup finals shows a Vancouver team that was beaten up by the Bruins and outplayed in the final game of the series. The Canucks made some changes to become a little bigger, but it sacrificed speed for size. The Canucks spent the first few games of the season adjusting to the changes made to the roster. Now it looks like Vancouver is ready to re-establish its regular season dominance over the NHL. The fans just keep holding their collective breath until the playoffs arrive.

The Bottom Line
This will be one of the better NHL games of the week as these two teams are evenly matched. But the Blackhawks have a flow to their game that the Canucks have not quite achieved yet. The Canucks will get there, but Vancouver is not quite to the level of Chicago just yet.

Pick: Chicago Blackhawks