Friday NHL Best Bet, Thursday Recaps
Thursday saw our continuing emphasis on the NHL as the NBA hit its All-Star Break, so we’re expecting this to carry over for the better part of the next week (along with the coming XFL, but more on that in Saturday’s column when the league kicks off its third iteration).
I’m glad that I’ve been shying away from the Association heading into the break as favorites went 15-2 SU and 13-4 ATS (76.5%) the last three days. Fave have also gone 15-8 in the NHL during that same span, but we’ve continued to keep our focus on our First-Period Over/Unders (especially the Overs with the top teams in that category). We won again with our Best Bet yesterday on the Red Wings-Flames 1P Over 1.5 -140/Flyers-Kraken 1P Over 1.5 -140 for a juicy parlay payoff of +194. We have good news for VSiN subscribers as our daily picks are now being included on the Pro Picks page. I’m not sure what my record will show up in the email update later Friday morning under “Top VSiN Experts – Last 7 Days” as all of our picks here weren’t entered every day, but we’ve gone 11-4 from last Friday through last night for a net profit of $882.67 based on $100 wagers. Those include winning our last NBA play on the Bucks +1 last Friday, going 1-1 in college basketball last Saturday for a net loss of $91, going 4-1 on the Super Bowl with our Best Bet on the Chiefs +7.5/Over 44 teaser plus four prop bets and splitting two NHL money-line plays on Tuesday with a loss on Capitals +135 and a win on the Blues +115 for a slight net profit of $15. Otherwise, the rest of the damage has been done with our NHL First-Period Over/Under parlays as we lost last Friday on the Penguins-Ducks 1P Over/Coyotes-Blackhawks 1P Under, but have won our last four at plus-money with Flames-Sabres 1P Over/Canucks-Red Wings 1P Over at +152 last Saturday, Flames-Senators 1P Over/Canucks 1P Over at +162 on Monday, Rangers-Canucks 1P Over/Sabres-Ducks 1P Over at +158 on Wednesday and the Red Wings-Flames 1P Over/Flyers-Kraken 1P Over +194 last night. Fortunately, the VSiN Pro Picks page will reflect our record once the daily postings catch up to what our loyal readers have already been following. Let’s recap the rest of Thursday’s (full-game action) and then give our Best Bet for Friday. Then, I’ll add two plays for the XFL’s opening weekend with more details to come in Saturday’s version of this column.Thursday Recaps
CBB: No. 4 UCLA rallied to beat Stanford 73-64 late Thursday, but did NOT cover as 13.5-point home favorite (game went Over betting total of 131 points). Earlier, Maryland beat No. 3 Purdue 68-54, but it wasn't an upset as the Terrapins closed (and easily covered) as 1-point home faves (stayed Under 133.5).
NBA: Faves/dogs split 1-1 SU and ATS on the last day before the All-Star Break with Clippers beating Suns 116-107 in game that closed pick-'em. The Bucks covered as 7.5-point road faves in 112-100 win at the Bulls for 13th straight victory while the Wizards upset the Timberwolves 114-106 as 3.5-point road underdogs. Road teams swept 3-0 SU SU and ATS. Unders led 2-1.
More NBA: On the season favorites lead 569-302 SU at the break with 13 games closing pick-'em, but underdogs still lead 433-417-21 ATS (50.9%). Home teams still lead 526-358 SU and 455-410-19 ATS (52.6%). In totals wagering, Overs’ lead dipped to 445-425-14 (51.1%).