| 01 February 2010
Over/Under 5.5
7:30 PM ET
The Anaheim Ducks come into the sunshine state playing like they have all season long: fair to middling, punctuated by periods of mediocrity, with occasional signs of averageness.
The Ducks recently traded former Stanley Cup MVP goaltender J.S. Giguere to Toronto for energy guy Jason Blake. If Jonas Hiller remains healthy, the Ducks shouldn’t miss Giguere much and Blake is a good character pickup who will chip in some offense too. The Ducks are on the final game of a six game road trip and they have a chance to salvage a .500 trip with a win in Florida tonight against the Panthers. The Ducks are dead average in scoring netting about 2.7 goals a game with (you guessed it) a pretty average power play clicking at 19% (#11 in the NHL). The Ducks are also missing two key, high profile forwards in veterans Teemu Selanne and Jeffrey Lopul. About 10 teams would need to implode in the West for the Ducks to have a real shot at the playoffs, so you’ve got to wonder just how motivated they will be tonight in their third day in Florida (they played in Tampa Saturday night). If nothing else, they should be tanned, rested, and ready.
Florida is coming off a nice home win against the New York Islanders yesterday. Florida is another weak offensive team (#19) with a fairly wretched power play (#24). When they win, it’s because Thomas Vokoun stands on his head and turns aside 35 shots. Florida has been an excellent “under” team of late. In fact, in 6 of their last seven games, the Panthers and their opponent have combined for a mere 3 goals or less. You have to go back 8 games to find a game that went “over” 5.5. Over the last 7 games, the Panthers have netted 2 or less goals. The recent long-term injury to their top scorer Nathan Horton won’t help the Panthers light up the score sheet either.
This one is easy pickings on the under.
Fitzy’s Pick of the Night: Under (1 unit)
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