Even though March Madness scores will be the focus of the weekend, there are still a few NHL matchups worth watching out for in your sportsbook and the best one comes from Boston, where the defending Stanley Cup champions have been all over the place lately. They’ll host a Philadelphia team that has been getting strong goaltending as of late. Flyers vs. Bruins Odds – Saturday, 1:00 PM ET
The Flyers were beaten 4-1 in New Jersey on Sunday, which snapped a five-game winning streak over which Philadelphia picked up three shutouts. Most sportsbooks reviews would state that the Flyers have had perennially shaky goaltending, but Ilya Bryzgalov has been rolling recently. However, Sergei Bobrovsky got the start on Sunday and made 27 saves for the Flyers, who also got a goal from Claude Giroux. The Flyers will aim to avenge that loss to New Jersey when they host the Devils on Tuesday before visiting the New York Islanders on Thursday, but the afternoon contest in Boston on Saturday is the one that they’ll have circled, going up against some prime 2012 March Madness betting. If the Flyers can pull off a road win in Boston, they’ll earn some trust among NHL betting players.
The Bruins kicked off a three-game road trip with a 5-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Sunday, one day after a 4-3 home loss to Washington, and they were buried by three goals in the first period, which earned the hook for Tim Thomas and got Marty Turco in nets for his first action as a Bruin; he stopped 20 of 22 shots. David Krejci scored a pair, while Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin assisted on both goals for the Bruins, whose goaltending is in flux now as Tuukka Rask is out with an ailing groin, which means they’re depending on an inconsistent Thomas as well as Turco. That has to put a bit of indecision among those that purchase sportsbook software when thinking about the Bruins.
Still, Boston should be the NHL betting picks favorites at home and they’ve won four of their last five against the Flyers. This is going to be a hard-nosed game, but the last two have been high-scoring, both in the Bruins’ favor with a 6-0 win in Philadelphia in December, and then a 6-5 victory in the City of Brotherly Love in January. The Bruins seem to be ripe for Philadelphia right now, and the Flyers will knot the season series at two games apiece (Philly won the opener 2-1 in Boston in October) to stun the Bruins, who just can’t seem to get on track and it starts at the back. Go with Philadelphia in your online betting picks next Saturday.
