Two teams battling for third place in the Atlantic Division meet on Wednesday night, as the Boston Bruins visit the Detroit Red Wings on NBCSN. The Bruins come into this game playing as well as they have all season, as they have won 8 of their last 10, including two straight, while the Red Wings have lost 8 of their last 10. Boston has dominated this series lately, taking 8 of the last 10 meetings.
At 8 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Wednesday, December 13, 2017, at Little Caesars Arena.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Boston comes into this game playing really well and they will have the advantage in terms of rest, as they played on Saturday and won at home against the Islanders, while the Red Wings were at home against Florida on Monday. Boston is just 5-7 on the road this season, with six games going over the total and six going under. They are scoring 2.9 goals per game and giving up 2.7 per contest.
Boston has been rolling thanks to a good group of forwards. David Pastrnak was moved to the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand and David Krejci is now centering two rookies, Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork on the second line. Head coach Bruce Cassidy said that he is thrilled with Krejci on the second line, as he is a good mentor for the rookies.
On the other side, there is not that much to like about Detroit. They were just 5-10 in their first 15 home games, with 10 games going over and five going under. The Red Wings are scoring 2.7 goals per game, while giving up 3.3 per contest.
Special Teams
The Bruins are 14th in the NHL on the power play at just under 20%, while they are 4th in penalty killing at just over 85%. The Red Wings are 9th on the power play and 9th in penalty killing but recently the power play has been really bad. The power play was 0-for-10 in their last ten chances before Monday’s game against Florida. “I judge process, (and) if the power play looks like that Monday (against Florida), we’ll probably score," coach Jeff Blashill said to the Detroit News. "If we don’t, and it looks like that again on Wednesday (against Boston), we’ll score for sure. That’s the way odds are. You just have to keep playing in the right way.” If you go back farther, the Red Wings are just 2-for-19 in their last six games on the power play, so Blashill may need to be concerned.
Key Stat
Detroit is struggling to get good play in goal. Jimmy Howard had allowed four goals or more in four of his last five games before Monday against Florida. Blashill said he is still confident in Howard but the results haven’t been there. “Jimmy is on top of his game. He looks to me the way he did at the beginning of the year and at the world championships and at the beginning of last year.” Howard has a goals against of 2.95, while Petr Mrazek has a goals against of 3.72.
As noted earlier, the Bruins have dominated this series lately, winning 8 of the last 10, with five of the last six going over the total. Boston has also won six of the last ten in Detroit, with two games going over, four going under, with four pushes.
Free NHL Picks
Everything favors the Bruins in this game. They are playing with more rest, they are better on offense, better on defense and they have owned this series. I will take the Bruins to get this road win on Wednesday. The total is also worth a play in this contest, as Detroit has been going over the total on a regular basis at home, so this should be a high scoring game.
NHL Odds: Bruins 4, Red Wings 3
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