Detroit Red Wings vs. Los Angeles Kings 11/16

Overview

That was just simply an unacceptable loss last night. What seemed like a promising game, turned out to be a nightmare after the Ducks scored four straight goals to take a two-goal lead. We’ll start with the good news about the game. First, the powerplay exploded last night like I thought it would. With a little help from a two-man advantage, the Wings went 3 for 4 on the PP. Marco Kasper also got the monkey off his back, scoring his first goal of the season, and Berggy got his 2nd of the season, scoring in back-to-back games. The Wings dominated the Ducks for about a period and a half, but then looked to be gassed towards the end of the 2nd. After two very sloppy penalties, the Ducks were able to easily tie it up on their powerplays. Then 8 minutes later, the Ducks caught the Wings sleeping and took a lead of their own less than 50 seconds apart. I don’t know what was worse, that third period or the Mikke Tyson fight, but both made me pretty mad last night. Although it is the worst lead in hockey, the Wings MUST be better at defending two-goal leads because they’ve blown a couple of those this year.

Even with 4 attempts on the night, Larkin seemed to be the only one to not get a point on the powerplay last night. Thankfully it didn’t come down to that because the Wings ended up losing anyway, but hopefully, Larkin can end his little scoring draught tonight against the Kings. Mo ended the night with two apples of his own, so he secured that pick about 8 minutes into the game. Unfortunately, we did end the night down a couple of units, but I didn’t care too much about the picks when I saw the Wings go down two goals late into the game.

Prediction

Tonight’s opponent won’t be as lenient on mistakes as the Ducks were last night. The Kings are a playoff team, and the Wings will have to be nearly perfect to beat them tonight. I don’t quite understand what is going on with our goalie situation, as Talbot seems to be the only one who wants to win games for the Wings. While last night wasn’t completely on Lyon, he let in way too many wrist shots from the top of the circles. With Talbot back in the net, I expect this game to remain competitive until the final buzzer. The third line continues to impress scoring the first two goals of the game on the second powerplay unit, so they need to continue playing tough tonight. I would love to see a little more from the second line, as they haven’t done much as of late, besides Kaner on the powerplay. I would love to see Compher step up tonight and get something going. I think tonight will be a good test to see if the Wings want to be a top team in the league, but they have to play tough for all 60 minutes.

After last night’s loss, my brain is still a little scrambled so I will be keeping it simple with my picks tonight. First things first, Larkin has got to end his drought to keep the team on a good track, so I will be riding with him to get one in the back of the net. To piggyback off of the last things, Compher needs some production so if I can find odds on him to get a point tonight, I will also be taking that. And to wrap up the picks tonight, when Talbot is announced as the starter, I will be taking his overall saves in the game. I would love to go 3 for 3 tonight as we are starting to drop units, so all three of these will also be parlayed, along with the straight picks.

Picks

Talbot Over Saves -??? (2u) NO ODDS

Larkin o0.5 Goals +140 (1u)

Larkin o2.5 Shots -130 (2u)

Compher o0.5 Points (1u) NO ODDS

Parlayed Together (1u) NO ODDS