The NHL power rankings are an excellent resource for handicappers having a difficult time determining, which teams odds they should choose. In many cases, the power rankings take into account the strength of a team, as well as the strength of their schedule. For instance, with several teams being eliminated last night, March Madness betting enthusiasts now have a better idea of who to back and who to fade as we round out the season. Today we will look at a few teams that impacted the NHL power rankings last night.

You can make an argument in the Eastern Conference, that last night’s game featuring the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals, then tied for the eighth and final playoff spot, was the biggest of the season. It’s been well documented how much the Sabres and Capitals struggled during the first half of the season. However, with each team hitting their stride this late in the season, all could be redeemed with a long playoff run. That is why, when the Sabres destroyed the Capitals five to one to pull ahead in the battle for eighth, plenty of teams were shocked. Currently ranked in 11th in the NHL power rankings, the Sabres have caught fire since the end of January, going 19 – 5- 5 in their last 29 games. If the Sabres get into the playoffs, expect a tough battle for whomever they face.

Another team that has made a huge impact on the NHL power rankings is the St. Louis Blues. Ever since the Blues made a coaching change in late November, the team has experienced a meteoric climb, and now sits second in the power rankings, but first in the overall standings. Last night, they defeated long time foe the Nashville Predators, to tie an NHL best, 15th shutout. As the Blues continue to perfect their systems, they should be a scary team to face in the playoffs.

It’s almost time for the NHL playoffs to begin, and Chicago and New Jersey are trying to hang on to their spots in the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively. The two will square off on Tuesday at Prudential Center.

Blackhawks Devils Odds – Tuesday, 7:00 PM ET

The Blackhawks were routed 6-1 at home by Nashville on Sunday, and a lot of BetOnline players that follow Chicago can’t put their finger on the ‘Hawks this season. Viktor Stalberg scored Chicago’s lone goal, while Corey Crawford allowed four goals on 15 shots before getting the hook for the Blackhawks, who had won five in a row prior to running into the Predators. Even baseball betting players know how much injuries can affect a team and the Blackhawks have missed captain Jonathan Toews for 16 games now because of a concussion, but they still have enough leadership and talent to make some noise in the postseason. Chicago were also missing Duncan Keith, who was suspended because of an elbow to the head of Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin. But on any given night, the Blackhawks can look like world-beaters or a team that has no business being in the playoffs.

The Devils were thumped 5-2 in Pittsburgh on Sunday as Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk got on the scoresheet, while Martin Brodeur stopped 23 shots for New Jersey, a team that many sharps who use price per head services think are a solid darkhorse to win the Stanley Cup, but they didn’t look like it on Sunday. If the Devils are going to progress in the East, they have to beat teams like Pittsburgh, who is playing the best hockey in the NHL right now and as always, their defense has to carry the team, although New Jersey have been scoring more goals this season.

New Jersey should be the home favorites in this NHL betting contest, but the Blackhawks have won three of the last five meetings between the two, who haven’t met since a 5-3 win for the Devils in Chicago in November 2010. The Blackhawks will want to come out with a strong effort after they were embarrassed at home by a team they could face in the playoffs, while the Devils don’t have the same pressure as they lost to a team many feel are the Stanley Cup favorites, and it was on the road. This game could come down to goaltending and Brodeur wasn’t sharp in his last game; look for the veteran to come up big on Tuesday night. The Blackhawks are too inconsistent to lay a wager on, so lean towards the New Jersey Devils at home at your favorite sports betting sites (which you can visit here).

Online Betting Overview
As the March Madness betting continues towards the Final Four, the NHL season continues to steamroll towards the playoffs. This was supposed to be a break-out year for the San Jose Sharks. Power forward Joe Thornton was back and much of the scoring punch that the team had last year was still intact. There were some lingering questions about the effectiveness of goaltender Antti Niemi, but the team was supposed to be able to make a statement this season as it went into the playoffs. As the season goes into the last five or so games, the Sharks are in 10th place in the Western Conference but only two points out of a playoff spot. It isn’t where San Jose thought it would be, but at least it has a chance at the post-season.

The Anaheim Ducks were a wild card team this year that no one was too sure about. When the team hired Bruce Boudreau as its new coach a month into the season, everyone thought things would get better. But the Ducks are all but eliminated from the playoffs and just trying to finish the season as strong as possible. Anaheim is not going to make it into the Western Conference playoffs this year, but it is more than capable of being a spoiler. Click here to learn more about the bookie odds on Anaheim and San Jose making the playoffs.

San Jose Sharks
The problem with the San Jose Sharks is timing. The team is not having a bad year statistically, but it cannot seem to generate goals in important games when it needs to. Goaltender Antti Niemi cannot seem to steal a game for the Sharks at critical moments. Sportsbook reviews of games like the most recent one against the Los Angeles Kings show a San Jose team that is not capable of rising to the challenge. This is uncharted territory for San Jose as this is a franchise that is used to winning and used to being tough in clutch games. The Sharks still have a chance at the playoffs, but it will need to start winning Western Conference games like this one against Anaheim.

Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks were terrible at the beginning of the season and that has clouded its progress to this point. The big problem that Anaheim had earlier in the season was that goaltender Jonas Hiller was not playing up to his usual form. Hiller is first in the league in losses and has allowed the most goals against of any goaltender in the NHL. But he has also faced the third-most shots in the league. The Ducks have started to clamp down on its defense, but there are going to need to be major changes to this Ducks roster if the team wants to compete next season.

The Bottom Line
NHL fans in California do not have a lot to cheer about lately. It used to be that the San Jose Sharks were the class of California professional hockey. But with an aging team, the Sharks are losing its bite. The Ducks are just trying to determine who will be on the team when the 2012-2013 season starts. But Anaheim has enjoyed playing spoiler.

Pick: Anaheim Ducks

Far too often in the sports betting world, the finger is pointed at a particular win or loss as the single definitive reason for a final outcome at the end of the year. This applies to the NHL as well, where in the case of an 82-game regular season, the race for the final playoff spots can come down to a decisive two points. However, seasons aren’t won or lost based on a single outcome, no matter how good they feel or how bad they sting. That is a good thing for both the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets, which each ended this past weekend with terrible losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes respectively. It didn’t matter as much that both the Flames and Jets were playing on home ice. It didn’t matter that they were both within two points of the final playoff spot in their respective conferences, and it didn’t matter that they were playing two of the worst teams in the NHL. What mattered was that both Calgary and Winnipeg failed to execute in a crucial situation, and while one game may not determine an entire season, neither team can afford to drop any more contests in this fashion going forward.

The Jets remained just two per head points back of the Washington Capitals for the final playoff spot in the East thanks to the a 5-2 win for the Chicago Blackhawks over Alex Ovechkin and company on home ice Sunday. Winnipeg now has to play on the road against a hungry Pittsburgh Penguins’ team that just had its 11-game winning streak ended on Tuesday night, before traveling to face Washington in a massive showdown Friday night. The Capitals have the busier schedule with a trip to Detroit Monday followed by a trip to Philadelphia on Thursday before returning home to face the Jets. The Buffalo Sabres are also very much alive, just two points out of eighth to open the week with another crucial home game against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

Meanwhile in the Western conference, the Flames are on the road this week for games against the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild and must find a way to do better than they did against Columbus. Calgary already trails the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings in the race to catch the Phoenix Coyotes and Avalanche for the final two playoff spots. Only two points separated five teams in the thick of the playoff race, which means that the next two weeks will decide which teams get in, and which NHL teams miss out.

Although the March Madness betting is still going on, the NHL playoff race marks the perfect time for players to get in on the action and make a solid profit betting hockey. The teams with their backs on the line and most to play for will likely play to reflect their situations, making them good bets to win. Teams like the Flames and Jets cannot afford the type of losses they suffered this past Sunday, so look for them to bounce back this week as they fight to stay alive in their respective conferences.

Sports Betting Overview
The Vancouver Canucks are not the best team in the NHL this season and won’t be winning the President’s Trophy. However the Canucks are, once again, running away with the Northwest Division. As the March Madness spreads continue to change, the Canucks find itself firmly in second place in the Western Conference and rolling into the playoffs. It seems that the Canucks are finally starting to realize that dominating the league during the regular season means nothing when the playoffs start. The Canucks are still a very good team and that is what it has always wanted to be heading into the playoffs. But there are still questions as to whether or not Vancouver is tough enough to win it all.

The Chicago Blackhawks have had a roller coaster kind of season that has seen it near the top of the Western Conference standings and then temporarily out of the playoffs. The price per head bookie experts are not picking the Blackhawks to win it all this year, but the way the Blackhawks are ending the season could indicate that the team may do well in the playoffs. Chicago is still the victim of poor defense and spotty goaltending from Corey Crawford, but the scoring pace the Blackhawks has been on is making up for any defensive deficiencies the team may be experiencing right now. The only problem is that Chicago knows what it takes to win the Stanley Cup and the team is keenly aware that the proper pieces may not be in place.

Vancouver Canucks
A betonline.com review of the Canucks’ season shows that Vancouver does have a good balance of good scoring and resilient defense. Goaltender Roberto Luongo has shown signs of being unreliable at points in the season, but it is likely that the Canucks will ride Luongo into the playoffs again this year. The late-season move of moving center Cody Hodgson to Buffalo for gritty winger Zack Kassian seems to have been a bust for both teams. But Kassian has yet to play in the playoffs for the Canucks, and the playoffs are why the team brought Kassian to Vancouver. Fans in Vancouver are really hoping that this is a different Canucks’ team entering the playoffs than the last couple of years.

Chicago Blackhawks
The NBA trade deadline 2012 came and went in Chicago and the Bulls did not need to make any moves to remain one of the top teams in the NBA. The Blackhawks needed help on defense but really did not get it at the NHL trade deadline. So Chicago enters the playoffs trying to ride its offense, which is not the way to win a Stanley Cup. However, in this particular game, the Blackhawks may be more than capable of going toe to toe with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Bottom Line
Both of these teams need to win games going into the playoffs to help gain momentum that will make up for deficiencies in the rosters. The Blackhawks have been very good on home ice all season long. This game should shift towards Chicago based on home ice alone.

Pick: Chicago Blackhawks

Sports fans sick of all of the NBA trade deadline talk, can shift their attention to the NHL, as we edge closer to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for another year. Similar to the NBA, you can always count on a handful of teams to be in the mix year in and year out. But this season, there are a few dark horse teams, that have seen their futures odds rise dramatically. Here is a March Madness betting look at who holds the best odds to win a Championship.

The Boston Bruins continue to dominate the NHL futures odds, as they currently sit second in the Eastern Conference and fourth overall. As the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Bruins at +600 odds didn’t really make that many adjustments at the NHL trade deadline only adding depth players. On paper, this year’s team appears as good if not better then last year’s Stanley Cup winning team, as their defensive tough as nail moniker has really allowed them to dominate the rest of the league. However, with backup goalie Tuuka Rask succumbing to a knee injury, fans, media and sports betting handicappers alike, all wonder what will happen, if Tim Thomas also becomes injured?

One team turning heads that represents the dark horse category is the Nashville Predators. With odds of +1500 and the team’s top two defensemen up for new contracts, the Predators have made a handful of moves to assure they go far in the playoffs. If the playoffs started today, the Predators would face the Detroit Red Wings. Nevertheless, after getting to the second round for the first time in franchise history a year ago, Barry Trotz has the Predators believing that they can win the Stanley Cup. In order to put them over the edge, the Predators management even brought back game changing forward Alexander Radulov. If Radulov can recapture his former game changing ability, the Predators may be looking at winning their first ever Stanley Cup.

March Madness brackets are out this week as the NCAA Tournament round of 64 starts on Thursday, but there are other events going on in the world of sports and on Tuesday, Los Angeles looks to win their second straight game when they host Detroit. The Kings are trying to keep pace in the Western Conference postseason race, while the Red Wings are aiming to seal a top-four seed.

Red Wings Kings Odds – Tuesday, 10:30 PM ET

Detroit has lost three of their last four games after a 3-2 loss in Nashville, and all three of those losses have been by a single goal; although a BetOnline.com review would state that they’re still in the mix for the top spot in the Western Conference, this recent stretch is worrying. Drew Miller and Justin Abdelkader notched single markers, while Joey MacDonald stopped 17 shots for the Red Wings, who had a 37-20 edge in shots on goal, but failed to convert. The Red Wings have been battered by injuries as of late, which has had a hand in their struggles and March Madness betting players know how big of a role they can play, but Detroit can’t afford to lose their momentum down the stretch.

The Kings halted a two-game skid with a 3-2 shootout win in Chicago, which wrapped up a four-game road trip and of course, they got another stellar performance from Jonathan Quick, who stopped 35 shots. Quick is going to be a popular pick among those that work with bookie software to win the Vezina, but you would have to think that the Kings need to make the playoffs to give him a better chance. Slava Voynov and Jeff Carter scored in regulation, while Mike Richards netted the shootout winner for the Kings, who are one of five teams within three points of each other at the bottom of the Western playoff picture.

Los Angeles may be slight NHL betting favorites at home, but the Red Wings have won four of the last five between the two, and they’ve won three of their last five visits to Los Angeles. However, they’re pretty banged up right and the time is right for the Kings to pick up a much-needed victory. The Red Wings have been struggling with scoring goals, which is something that the Kings have had trouble with all season long, and they’re running into one of the league’s best goalies in Quick, who had been on the wrong end of some awful goal support this season. His team will do enough for him on Tuesday night, so take the Kings in your sports betting picks.

Online Betting Overview
There are five teams in contention for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals have been going back and forth to see who will finally wind up with the spot, but there are three other teams forcing themselves into the argument as well. As the March Madness betting gets started in college basketball, the race is on to see if any of these five teams can grab the final playoff spot and start to pull away. There is a sizeable gap between seventh and eighth place in the Eastern Conference which means that only one of these eight teams is going to make it. The Jets would like to shake the feeling of disappointment it felt last season when it was the Atlanta Thrashers and it surrendered the eighth and final playoff spot late in the season.

Every team in the Pacific Division is in contention for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The price per head sports experts are impressed with how the Dallas Stars has been able to get its act together and rise to the top of the division. Now Dallas just needs to keep winning to fend of challenges from Phoenix, San Jose and Anaheim. At times, it seems like any one of those teams could catch the Stars. But Dallas has been able to stick to its game plan and find ways to win games late. After the roller coaster season the Dallas Stars has had, it is reassuring to Dallas fans to see the team in a winning groove.

Winnipeg Jets
The difference for the Jets right now is goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec has faced the fifth most shots in the league but maintains an impressive .912 save percentage. A bodog review of the Jets’ season shows that when the Winnipeg defense is not on its game, which is often, Pavelec has been there to keep the team in a position to win. The Jets have been winning its fair share of 2-1 games lately, but the defense and the offense are going to have to pick up the pace if the Jets want to start pulling away with that final playoff spot.

Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars got hot at the right time and are approaching the NBA trade deadline on quite an impressive streak. The Stars is 8-1-1 in the last 10 games and have been riding a four-game winning streak. The Stars have started to score consistently and have been able to play through some shaky goaltending at times. But Kari Lehtonen has been able to step up in the last couple of weeks and the Stars look like a strong playoff contender going into the last month of the NHL season.

The Bottom Line
While the Jets are scratching for its playoff life, the Stars has been able to maintain a steady winning pace. Dallas is a good road team and Winnipeg is a good home team. This will be a good game that should be close. But Dallas will continue its roll towards the playoffs.

Pick: Dallas Stars

Heading in to the 2011-12 NHL season, it only made sense that the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins were considered the sports betting favorites to represent the Eastern conference once again in this year’s Stanley Cup finals. Fast-forward to the present, and with just over a month to go in the regular season that outlook has changed. The New York Rangers have been running away with the lead in the East over the past two months, and with their third win in as many games this season against the Bruins on Sunday and fifth-straight overall, there is no denying they have established themselves as the team to beat.

The fact that New York has dominated the recent series between these teams is that much more ironic when you consider that the makeup of the Rangers’ roster was modeled after that of the defending champions in the first place. Both teams are built from the back beginning with world-class goaltenders in Henrik Lundqvist and Tim Thomas, with Tuukka Rask also coming along for Boston as he splits time, and defensive units that feature a solid blend of physicality and puck-moving ability. The forward lines for both teams are based on the top-six, bottom-six mentality, with the big bodies needed to play an aggressive game at both ends of the ice. Both the Rangers and Bruins rank in the top-seven in the NHL in terms of penalty kill percentage and overall goals against, although it is Boston that actually has the better numbers with the man-advantage and scoring five-on-five. Still, New York has outscored the Bruins 10-5 while taking the first three games in the season series, and will look to complete the sweep in April.

Whether or not the Rangers can continue this level of play in the postseason is another matter, especially should they face a more experienced Boston team. Marian Gaborik scored his fifth goal in six games on Sunday after registering just five in his previous 24 contests. That previous slump, which lasted nearly two months, came immediately after Gaborik’s season-high five-game goal-scoring streak in December, a perfect illustration of how streaky New York’s leading scorer can be. Young defenseman Michael Del Zotto leads the Rangers in plus/minus with a plus-27 mark, but he has made some tough mistakes at critical times in the season that have left head coach John Tortorella livid. Gaborik and Del Zotto will be among the key players that must perform in the postseason for New York, as we have to assume that Lundqvist will continue to be the dominant goaltender he has been all pay per head season.

With the March Madness betting about to get underway, and just over a month to go in the NHL regular season, the Rangers sit comfortably atop the Eastern conference standings, and should be able to hold down that top spot and earn home-ice advantage. Staying healthy and continuing to establish good habits will be among the keys for coach Tortorella’s team from now until April, as New York has already established itself as the team to beat in the Eastern conference.

Sports Betting Overview
The last time anyone really paid any attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs was a couple of weeks before the NHL trade deadline 2012 when the Leafs were still in the thick of the playoff hunt. At one point, Toronto was battling for the lead in the Northeast Division and looked like a team that was ready to finally break its playoff drought. Then little things started going wrong like goaltender James Reimer got injured and has not been the same since. The Leafs thought it had the goaltending question answered with Reimer, but that turned out to not be the case. Then the Toronto defense completely collapsed and it did not matter who was in goal. Now the Leafs find itself in 11th place in the Eastern Conference and sinking like a stone.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are starting to see some of its rough and tumble play backfire on them lately. Some of the sports fans in Pittsburgh are betting March Madness odds, but most of them are focused on the Penguins. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has been coming up huge for the Penguins recently and forward Evgeni Malkin has started to assert himself as a leader in the absence of captain Sidney Crosby. But as the playoffs approach, other teams are starting take exception to the Penguins’ physical style of play. Pittsburgh needs to realize that fighting its way into the playoffs when it doesn’t need to is going to cause more problems than it will solve.

Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs are 1-8-1 in the last 10 games leading up to the end of last week and were also riding a four-game losing streak to end the week. Toronto has gone from the very heights of the Eastern Conference to being only five points from the basement. That is not as bad as it sounds because the 15th place team in the Eastern Conference and the 8th place team are only separated by 10 points. But with things being so congested in the Eastern Conference, it just means that every game is extremely important. The pay per head sports experts have noticed that the Toronto Maple Leafs have not stopped scoring goals. But the Leafs are also not doing very well in the goal stopping department either.

Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins ended last week with a 7-2-1 record in 10 games and a four-game winning streak. A sportsbook review of the Atlantic Division standings shows that the Penguins are probably not going to catch the New York Rangers for first place in the division and Eastern Conference. But Pittsburgh is in good shape for the playoffs and now need to start thinking about consistent play that will prevent injuries and give the Penguins a shot at winning the Stanley Cup.

The Bottom Line
The Cartoon Network has a show called “Robot Chicken” that had a segment called “The World’s Worst One-Sided Fist Fights.” It is appropriate here because that is exactly what this game is going to be. The worst defensive team in hockey taking on one of the best offenses in the game means a very long night for Toronto Maple Leaf fans.

Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins