NHL History & News

The Sedin twins of the Vancouver Canucks came to the forefront of NHL fans once the Vancouver Canucks made their mark by climbing the ladder into the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals in 2010.

The two left-handed shooters have risen to NHL elite well before the Stanley Cup but the twins coming out party began with last seasons run to the Cup Finals.

The Sedin twins dominated the NHL post season with Daniel ranking fourth and Henrik ranking second in the post season scoring. They both were nominated for NHL Foundation Player of the Year in 2010 but neither raised the award over their head.

The Swedes are huge in their home country, especially when they play for Sweden in International play. The brothers won a gold medal in the 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turin, Italy. Sweden beat their neighbors, the Fins, in an unexpected victory.

Although neither brother is known as a huge goal scorer, Daniel racked up 41 goals to help the Vancouver Canucks win the President’s Trophy. Daniel is the more prolific of the two goal scorers, averaging just over 30 goals per season since he came into the league, while Henrik is averaging

Henrik is averaging just under 20 goals per season. The two work together seamlessly on the same line, with Daniel being the man who finishes the job. Henrik’s selflessness and tremendous hockey instincts are enhanced when he is on the ice with his brother. The sky is the limit for the twins and the next few seasons will be fun to watch the Vancouver Canucks.

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Just like last year when the Boston Bruins played the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston holds a three games to zero lead in the best of seven second round series. However, this time around the Bruins are hoping for a different outcome than last year’s playoff collapse. Last spring the Flyers became the third team in NHL history to come back from a three games to none deficit and win a playoff series. With last season’s collapse fresh in their memories, I would not bank on the Bruins failing to put away the Flyers this year.

The Bruins are a -170 moneyline favorite and the over/under total is 5.5 in NHL Betting Odds.

Using a combination of excellent goaltending along with a high powered offense, the Bruins have cruised to this commanding three game lead. The Bruins jumped on the Flyers with two quick goals in game three’s first sixty three seconds to take a commanding lead in the game and ultimately the series. So long as the Bruins do not let their guard down, it will be hard to envision Philadelphia making another comeback like they did last season against the Bruins.

Game four is scheduled for Friday night at eight o’clock. If the Flyers hope to stave off elimination, they will need to play a much better all around game and get more production out of their team leaders. Also, the Flyers goal tenders will have to step up and play their best game of the playoffs if they hope to extend their season for another game.

This weekend the Philadelphia Flyers will take on the Boston Bruins in the first game of their 7 game series. These teams may be tired by the end of this series as they just got done playing in a couple of very difficult matchups.

In hockey betting lines the Flyers are a -135 moneyline favorite and the over/under total is 5.5.

Both of these teams needed all 7 games to finish off their opponents in the first round of the playoffs despite being two of the best teams in the league. Against the Buffalo Sabres the Flyers were engaged in a difficult series for now. They managed to close out the series with a convincing 5-2 victory over Buffalo while the series was close.

In the Eastern Conference, during the season these teams were the 2nd and 3rd best teams. They should both be ready for a hard fought series as both of these teams were solid at home and even better on the road.

In terms of playing on both sides of the ice the Bruins are a slighting more well-rounded team. They are the 2nd best team in the NHL in goals against as they are the 5th best team in the league in goals per game. Even though the Flyers are just the 11th best team in the league in goals against, they are a slightly better team offensively, as they are the 3rd best team in the league in goals per game. If they hope to take the victory in this series they will need to buckle down defensively.

As both of these teams have all of the tools necessary to win this series this may be the best series in the playoffs this season.

In what could be a potential first round playoff matchup, the Detroit Red Wings will skate into Chicago on Sunday afternoon to do battle with the Blackhawks. Detroit is at 8-1 to win the Stanley Cup in NHL Odds and NHL Betting. The Blackhawks are at 18-1 in NHL Picks. This game will actually be the second of a home and home series to close out the 2010-2011 regular season for both teams.

Surprisingly, with only two games remaining for both clubs there is still a lot left to be decided when it comes to playoff berths and seeding. Chicago helped its chances of making the playoffs again this year with a crucial victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night. That overtime victory puts the Blackhawks in seventh place in the Western Conference, four points ahead of Dallas who is in ninth place and on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Chicago will really help secure its playoff status with at least one point during the weekend series with Detroit. On the other hand, the Red Wings are already locked into a playoff position after winning the Central Division last weekend.

With this year’s playoff berth, the Red Wings have made the postseason for a record twenty years in a row. This streak is also the longest streak for any team in all of the four major sports. While the Red Wings are gearing up for another long playoff run, Detroit still has a chance to jump into the number two seed in the Western Conference. Currently, the Red Wings trail San Jose by one point in the standings, and if the Red Wings would like to secure home ice for the first two rounds, they will need to try their best to win these last two remaining games against Chicago over the weekend. 

The Philadelphia Flyers will take on the Dallas Stars this weekend. The Flyers are currently the top team in the Eastern Conference with a 43-19-7 record. The Stars are sitting in the 7th spot in the Eastern Conference with a 37-25-8 record.

The Flyers are among the top favorites to win the Stanley Cup at 8-1 in NHL Odds.

While these teams are in good positioning for the playoffs, they will need a strong finish to ensure that they maintain their positioning. There are several teams in the Western Conference that are within reach of passing the Stars if they are unable to win games as the season comes to a close. Meanwhile, the Flyers could lose their spot atop the Eastern Conference with a poor finish.

The Flyers will certainly be the favorite going into this game, but they do have some weaknesses that the Stars may be able to exploit. While their offense is among the elite of the NHL, their defense is not quite as dominant. The Stars need to find a way to put the puck in the net early and then collapse back on defense.

The Flyers should be able to take this game if they just play their normal style. The Stars are solid and they play well in close games, but they are really just a middle of the pack team in most offensive and defensive categories.

The Stars will be the home team for this game. Dallas has a record of 19-11-6 while playing at home this season. The Flyers are 22-9-3 while playing on the road this

With the NHL getting back into high gear after the All-Star game, NHL fans will be treated to a contents of two of the better teams in the entire league when the San Jose Sharks travel to Boston to take on the Bruins Saturday night.

NHL Odds are not yet available.

Even though San Jose is struggling in the standings right now, the Sharks still figure to be one of the favorites to win the Western Conference come playoff time.

Boston is currently third in the Eastern Conference and leads Montreal by only four points in the standings. Despite a mediocre power play that currently sits at 16th in the league, Boston continues to rely on one of the best goal tending tandems in the league to win games on a nightly basis. The offense is doing pretty well also as the Bruins average 3.0 goals per game.

After making it to the Western Conference finals last year the San Jose Sharks have been a bit of a disappointment so far this season. Struggling to find any consistency on offense and defense has really slowed the down the Sharks in the first half of the season. If San Jose wants to make another deep playoff run they will need to get things going in a hurry, especially since they are tied for 8th place in the West with two other teams.

The NHL’s annual all-star game will showcase the greatest hockey players in the world this weekend.

NHL fans will be treated to a unique format during this year’s game that is taking place at the Carolina Hurricane’s home arena in Raleigh. The NHL decided to name two captains for the all-star game and have those players choose their team from a list of eligible all-stars, rather than having the best players from each conference square off.

Nicklas Lidstrom form the Detroit Red Wings and Eric Staal from the Carolina Hurricanes will be this year’s captains. This Friday night these captains will select their rosters from a list of 42 eligible players.

Hockey betting odds are not yet available for the All-Star game.

The skills challenge that takes place Saturday night is the one thing that has not been changed about this year’s all-star weekend. The skills competition will pit the best players in the world against each in various tests of their hockey ability such as shooting accuracy, breakaway competition and hardest shot, always a highlight of the NHL all-star weekend.

The absence of two of the game’s best players will be one drawback of this year’s all-star game. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin both have said that they will not be attending this year’s game. Malkin just announced he will be out with a sinus infection as Crosby is still suffering from lingering effects of a concussion. For two other young stars to make their NHL all-star appearance, the absence of these two great players will just open up the door.

On New Year’s Day at Heinz Field, home of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, the Arch NHL rivals Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals will battle against each other in the Winter Classic and NBC will broadcast the match at 1 pm ET.

For this matchup NHL Odds are not yet available.

The Penguins beat the Capitals 3-2 last Thursday in Washington when the teams met just last week.

The game went seven rounds of a shootout before Pittsburgh winger Pascal Dupuis scored the winning goal on Washington Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth, even though it was not easy matchup.

In the first minute of the game the tone was set early when Alex Ovechkin put a big hit on the Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin. In order to stretch his scoring streak to 23 straight games, it took just one shot and three minutes for Sidney Crosby after that. To give his team a 1-0 lead Crosby scored on a tip-in off a pass from Kris Letang.

When Mike Green scored to stop his 14-game scoring drought, Washington later scored on a five-on-three advantage.

Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau said of Green’s play that, “I thought it was his best game in a long time, He played good defensively and yet he jumped into the play to make things happen offensively. You could see when he scored – it was like the weight of the world came off his shoulders.”

When the NHL resumes its schedule after the holiday break on Sunday, hockey fans will be treated to another great Central Division matchup between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks. Right now the Blackhawks are tied for eighth place in the Western Conference with the Los Angeles Kings, while the Columbus Blue Jackets trail Chicago by 2 points in the standings and sits tied for 9th with Phoenix and St. Louis. In hockey betting lines, NHL betting odds have not yet posted for this matchup.

When looking back at the season, the teams that miss the playoffs by just a few points always kick themselves for losing those interdivision games. Because of this fact, Chicago and Columbus realize this upcoming game could loom large in the standings come April.

On paper this game looks like a bit of a mismatch for the Blue Jackets as the Blackhawks have plenty more offensive firepower than Columbus. However, with Chicago not having played its best hockey of the season yet and Columbus playing fairly well defensively, this game should be a close one between the two Central Division foes. Chicago will be looking to capitalize on their recent success having beaten both Detroit and Los Angeles as part of their 5 games home stand. Columbus will be looking to get a fresh start while traveling on the road to break out of a month long slump that has seen them win only three games in their last 13.

In an Atlantic Division battle this coming Sunday; the Philadelphia Flyers will lock horn the New York Islanders.

The Flyers will be looking to raise the space between themselves and the rest of the division as they are presently tied with the suddenly red hot Pittsburgh Penguins with 34 points each. On the other hand the Islanders are struggling extremely again this season. On the season with only 15 points and just 5 wins at present the Islanders sit in the bottom of the Atlantic Division.

In order to reach the number one spot in the division, the Flyers have used a balanced scoring and defensive attack. By averaging 3.3 goals for each competition the Flyers are 4th in the league in goals per game. Allowing a mere 2.4 goals per game, Philly also has one of the better defensive units in the league. You are going to have a pretty good record as the Flyers currently do as anytime you can get this big of a difference between goals for and goals allowed per game.

Both offensively and defensively in the NHL, the Islanders continue to be one of the worst teams. Yet allow 3.2 goals per contest, the Isles only manage to score 2.1 goals per game on average. For 29th and 28th overall correspondingly those numbers are good. The Islanders are going to have to find other ways to score goals while limiting their opposition’s chances if they want to turn their season around and have any chance of beating the Flyers on Sunday.