The NHL is coming up to the quarter of the season mark, as on Saturday night, all 30 teams will have played 20 games. Thus far in the season, there has been many surprises, such as the good records of bottom feeder teams, and the early struggles of stronger teams. With that being the case, sports betting enthusiasts are wondering if some teams are hitting the panic button a little too early on their season. Here is a preview of the weekend and some thoughts on the season thus far.

Despite being in a tie for fourth overall in the standings, the Toronto Maple Leafs are on the verge of hitting the panic button on their season. Currently owning a record of nine – five – one the Leafs have dropped the last two games getting outscored 12 to one in that span. The main areas of concern in Leafs Nation, is the bookie software special teams and goaltending. Entering tomorrow night’s game against the St. Louis Blues, the Leafs will need to win or risk losing three in a row. Historically, by the weekend if they lose again to an upbeat Ottawa Senators club, the Leafs coaching staff and roster could be changed dramatically.

On the other hand, another team that hit the panic button a little too early in our opinion was the aforementioned St. Louis Blues. Despite only being one game below 500, the Blues evicted Head Coach Davis Payne, in favor of former Stanley Cup winning coach Ken Hitchcock. Hitchcock is experienced in turning teams around, but considering Payne only was the coach for 18 months, was the move really fair? If Hitchcock can keep the wins coming with games against Toronto tomorrow and then Tuesday against Detroit, the move to bring him in will look amazing.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans have to be impressed by the start of their team, but fans of the Dallas Stars have to be over the moon as their team is second in the NHL in total points as of Monday. On Tuesday, the Stars will be in the nation’s capital to take on Washington, where the Capitals are perfect this season.

Stars Capitals Odds – Tuesday, 7:00 PM ET

The Stars (10-3-0) have now won three in a row after a 5-2 win in Carolina on Sunday, led by two goals from Jamie Benn, while Michael Ryder, Stephane Robidas and Eric Nystrom added singles for the Stars, who are still a darkhorse bet to win the Stanley Cup according to Wagerweb reviews, but they’re gaining steam with defensive play and a young nucleus. Kari Lehtonen had another solid game with 30 saves and he is giving the Stars a lot of confidence at the back of their defense, which allows Dallas to push forward, but they’re never going to be too adventurous, although they did explode in a 7-6 overtime win over Colorado last Friday; that game is definitely the exception to the rule.

The Capitals (9-3-0) got tired in the second half of a back-to-back on Saturday, falling 5-3 on the road against the New York Islanders and pay per head players will always be wary of a team playing on two straight nights. Washington had a 2-0 lead after the first period thanks to goals by Alex Ovchekin and Joel Ward, but the Islanders took control in the final 20 minutes. Brooks Laich added a power-play marker while Tomas Vokoun stopped 30 shots for the Capitals, who have certainly cooled off after winning seven in a row to start the season, but regular-season success is meaningless to Washington; it’s what they do in the playoffs that counts.

Washington should be the home favorites in your pay per head sportsbook, but they’re only 1-3-1 in their last five meetings at home with the Stars since 1999 with four games going over the posted total. The Capitals are 6-0-0 at home so far, while Dallas is 4-2-0 on the road, which is a solid record, but the edge goes to Washington, who will want to bounce back from their loss on Saturday and they’ve generally been a good home team anyway. The Stars’ story has been nice to read early in the season, but it’s going to be tough for them to keep up this pace all season, especially on the road. It’ll be a matchup of Washington’s offense against Dallas’ defense, but at home, take the Capitals to come out on top in your favorite online sportsbooks.

It is easy to blame the Boston Bruins’ slow sports betting start on the proverbial “Stanley Cup hangover”, but the more reasonable explanation is right there in the statistics. With just 22 goals through 10 games, the Bruins have managed to clinch just three wins, and are just one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the worst record in the NHL. A closer look at their results reveals plenty of reason for optimism that the team has the potential to turn things around, as four of their seven losses have come by just a single goal.

While the Bruins will always be a defensive-minded team as long as reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe trophy winner Tim Thomas is between the pipes and captain Zdeno Chara is roaming along the blue line, the team will need to find some offense in order to have the chance to defend their NHL title. While they never logged top-line minutes, veteran Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder were consistent offensive threats that provided depth scoring and help on the powerplay. With Recchi retiring this past summer and Ryder moving on to the Dallas Stars, Boston’s lack of offense has been punctuated by a slow start, although not from a lack of trying. The Bruins rank fifth in the NHL in shots on goal with an average of 33.4 per game, but 25th in goals per game with an average of just 2.10.

The effort up front will begin with sophomore center Tyler Seguin and veteran Patrice Bergeron, who lead the club in shots through 10 games with 34 each. Seguin has been moved around by head coach Claude Julien in an effort to get one of his top offensive threats to produce, while Bergeron will feel more comfortable in a second line role after filling in up front for David Krejci while the latter was injured. But while Seguin has 10 points in as many games, more will be expected of veterans such as Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton, who have combined for just five goals through a combined 20 games despite playing top minutes and having plenty of pay head opportunities. Youngster Bard Marchand and Rich Peverley will be leaned on to provide some depth scoring as they look to break out of their funk, but as in most cases patience might be the best remedy.

One advantage that the Bruins will have over the next two weeks will be the ability to play on home ice, as they play six of their next seven at the TD Garden, beginning against the surprising Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. Thomas will be asked to hold down the fort in the interim while the offense gets things together up front, but don’t expect Boston to be at the bottom of the Eastern conference for much longer as the offense breaks out over the next couple of intertops weeks.

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.

Step away from the free online fishing games for a minute and start thinking about your picks for the NHL season, and today we’ll look at the Eastern Conference, which is going to be a battle from start to finish as someone looks to replace the defending Stanley Cup champs from Boston.

Washington (+350) and Pittsburgh (+375) are favored, but the Capitals are more unpredictable than online casino sites with their great regular seasons followed by postseason failure, and until Sidney Crosby is healthy, the Penguins can’t win the conference. Philadelphia (+500) made some huge moves in the offseason, getting rid of former captain Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, but all eyes will be on Ilya Bryzgalov as the Flyers look to solve their perennial problems between the pipes.

Boston (+550) is in the mix, but they have to battle complacency and playing with a target on their backs and frankly, we can’t see Tim Thomas having the season he had last year in goal. Tampa Bay (+750) and Buffalo (+750) are sports betting darkhorses, but the Lightning is lacking in defense, while the Sabres need goal-scorers, so if you put them together, you would have the favorites.

The smart play is Philadelphia, although any of the top six or seven teams have a legitimate shot. The Flyers are balanced, but they’re also under a lot of pressure from their fans and that is going to be the biggest obstacle to their sports betting chances.