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Our final Wednesday night NHL on TNT doubleheader before we head into the All-Star break. Folks, we didn't have a great week last week, but I promise, I had a great weekend/start to the week of January 31st, so please continue to put your trust in me for at least a little while longer.
Tonight, we have the Edmonton Oilers in our nation's capital to take on Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at 7:00, and then later on we'll have Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild heading to the Windy City to face off against Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert, in fact, I'm the exact opposite. These are just my personal takes and my personal bets going into tonight's contests. Odds mentioned in this article are subject to change prior to puck drop.
(Photo by Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports)
Let's take a look at my record from last week, it wasn't pretty:
Game 1: Edmonton Oilers @ Washington Capitals
I'll put it plain and simple, the Edmonton Oilers are a dumpster fire. After getting off to a hot start to open the season, the Oilers have completely hit the skids since the start of December. Edmonton played 21 games in the months of December and January, posting a 7-11-3 record. That stretch included a six game losing streak that started on December 3rd in a 4-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken, and then the Oilers outdid themselves when they went on a seven game losing stream starting December 29th in a 4-2 loss against the St. Louis Blues.
I've already ranted at length about how this is the year that Edmonton needed to start making some noise in the playoffs, but hey, at least they were making the playoffs. After years of underperformances and early exits, it appears as if the Oilers might not even see the postseason at all in 2022.
This is a team that features the two best hockey players on the face of the Earth. Let's talk about one of those two guys, Connor McDavid. McDavid is undoubtedly the face of hockey around the world. Ask any hockey fan anywhere -- casual or die-hard -- and they'll be able to tell you about Connor McDavid. What a lot of people may not be able to tell you, however, is that McDavid has been outright critical of the Oilers performances over the last few years, especially after their playoff exit last year at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets.
Can you blame the guy? Since being drafted first overall in 2015, the Oilers front office has failed to put a winning team around their two superstars, McDavid and Draisaitl. Also since 2015, Edmonton has only made the playoffs twice, (three times if you count a play-in series in 2020 that they lost) and have never made it past the second round. This year alone, the Oilers went from first place in the Pacific Division, to eighth place in a matter of weeks.
Baseball fans, does this sound familiar? *cough* Mike Trout *cough* Shohei Ohtani *cough* Angels wasting their careers.
Let's move on to Leon Draisaitl. Although he hasn't been as publicly critical of his team's efforts as his teammate McDavid has, Draisaitl hasn't been able to escape the drama that is the 2021-22 Edmonton Oilers no matter how hard he tries. Trying to remain as professional as possible, Draisaitl was recently dragged into a confrontation with Oilers reporter, Jim Matheson, after Matheson decided to take exception to one of Draisaitl's answers during a press conference.
Hmm, I don't know Jim, do you think maybe he's a little "pissy" because his team has gone from first to worst in embarrassing fashion? Do you think maybe it's because the hockey world is pointing and laughing at him and his team for having the two best players on the planet and still performing like an AHL team? Or do you think it's because reporters like you just love to dig and dig and dig at struggling star athletes until they snap, just so you can have something to write about? I'm thinking maybe it's a mixture of all three, and a little more.
Once fans in Edmonton came to the conclusion that the Oilers have hit rock bottom, the jerseys started flying onto the ice in shame, causing Boston Bruins star, Brad Marchand, to chime in:
I don't want to get too into it here though, because I have another article coming in the near future covering it all, so let's move on.
The Washington Capitals, unlike their opponents tonight, have been enjoying great success as we near the All-Star break. The Capitals currently hold the top Eastern Conference wild card spot with 59 points, and are coming off of an electric overtime win over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins last night.
Also, let's not forget to mention, that Washington's captain -- you may have heard of him -- Alex Ovechkin, is right on the doorstep of hockey history, and we all get to be witnesses to it. As I reported on back in early January, Alex Ovechkin is sitting in fourth place on the all-time goals record with 759 goals scored, only 135 behind Wayne Gretzky who holds the goal scoring crown with 894. It won't happen this year, but a majority of fans, media, and even the Great One himself believe that within the next few seasons, Ovechkin will be sitting alone atop the all-time goals scored record.
Ovechkin currently ranks third in the league in goals scored this year with 29, right behind Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers in second place with 31, and Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers in first place with 33.
What I'm trying to get at here, is that even in his age 36 season, Ovechkin hasn't slowed down a bit, and could perhaps be in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career thus far.
I'll take:
WAS ML
WAS -1.5 puck line
Alex Ovechkin anytime goal scorer
Game 2: Minnesota Wild @ Chicago Blackhawks
If there are any Blackhawks fans reading this, I'm sorry. Last week I was really harsh on Chicago, and I advised that you bet the house against them, and they made me eat those words as they easily routed the Detroit Red Wings 8-5. That being said, however, you can read all about what I think of the Blackhawks in my betting guide from last week, as this is their second straight week being featured on NHL on TNT and I want to avoid sounding like a broken record.
The Minnesota Wild, however, are worth writing about. This is quite possibly the most exciting Minnesota Wild team that we have seen in their 22 year history. I used to call the Wild the "most boring team in hockey." Not so much anymore. In fact, they have actually been one of my favorite teams to watch over the last two seasons.
The Wild are finally starting to put it together. They finally have a team budding with young, exciting stars, accompanied by grizzled, scrappy veterans, and that is a great recipe for a really fun hockey team.
The Wild feature one of the best players in the league right now in young Russian superstar, Kirill Kaprizov. Kaprizov is the reigning Calder Trophy winner for rookie of the year in 2021, and has an electric cast of co-stars in Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, Mats Zuccarello, Matt Dumba, and Jordan Greenway just to name a few.
Speaking of Jordan Greenway, he and the Minnesota Wild agreed to a three-year, $9 million extension on Monday.
Kirill Kaprizov has quickly turned into one of my favorite players in the league, and I watch him any chance I get. He also makes for an extremely safe bet. The Minnesota Wild currently sit in third place in the Central Division with 57 points.
I'll take:
MIN ML
O 6
Kirill Kaprizov over 1.5 points
Additional game picks this evening:
NY Islanders ML
CAL Flames -1.5
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