AAA's MON NIGHT TOP NHL SELECTION (*Customer Appreciation Special!*)
(NHL) Tampa Bay vs. Edmonton,
Point Spread: 1.50 | -200.00 Edmonton (Home)
Result: Win
This is a 6* PUCK-LINE play on the Edmonton Oilers.

I think the winless Oilers play with enough heart to at the very least keep this one close enough to escape with a PUCK LINE cover. The Lightning got their road trip started off with a big 4-2 win at Vancouver, but the victory came at a major cost as the team lost top defenseman Victor Hedman to an upper body injury (note that Hedman was tied for the league lead among defenseman with three goals and seven points). Edmonton is out to its worst start since 1992 and a sixth straight loss to open the year would be its worst in franchise history. It's true that Tampa has outscored its opposition 17-9 and that the Oilers have been outscored 24-11, but "desperation" is often a factor that the bookmakers have a hard time properly quantifying into a line, and that's the case here in my opinion. While the Oilers are coming off a 2-0 loss to Vancouver on Friday, there's no question that the defense looked much improved in that outing: "I thought we played a lot better, but your play is measured in wins and losses," Oilers' goaltender Ben Scrivens said afterwards. "It's only one game, so the same way we tried not to panic after a couple of losses, we're not going to rest on anything, playing one good game. The key is coming out and playing another good game after that. The more we can do that, the idea is that the wins start to fall after that." This is a strategic wager for me, the puck line play needs to be properly utilized. I think the Lightning come in a bit complacent and the injury to Hedman is a key factor we can take advantage of here; however, in a contest which I believe will be decided late, in extras or the SO, I'll gladly lay the price for the extra 1.5 goals of insurance. Play on EDMONTON on the PUCK LINE.

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