NHL dog of the day: Fading the league's worst goalie
We have an NFL game on "Monday Night Football," as well as an MLB playoff game. The NBA season begins Tuesday. It's a great time to be a fan of sports.
The NHL season enters its second week and we have four games on the docket for Monday night. All betting lines are courtesy of BetMGM.
NHL dog of the day
Arizona is projected to be one of the worst teams in the league and they've opened the season with losses to Columbus and Buffalo, two other teams projected to be near the bottom of the standings. They are +150 underdogs tonight at home against the St. Louis Blues.
Carter Hutton will get the start for the Coyotes and he's been automatic fade material for quite a few years now. Hutton had a standout season as the backup goalie for the Blues in 2018, and he parlayed that into a starting job and big contract with the Buffalo Sabres. In Buffalo, Hutton won just 31 games in 94 games, giving up well over three goals a game and posting a poor save percentage of .901.
Hutton now finds himself in Arizona, and in his first start with his new team, he gave up 8 goals on just 26 shots.
I'm not huge on the Blues and don't view them as much more than an average team. However, I think Arizona will be pretty bad and any game where Hutton starts, they're prone to a blowout loss. The Blues showed their offensive power by scoring five goals in their season opener against the Cup-favorite Avalanche.
I'm backing the Blues to win comfortably and cover the puck-line. The Blues -1.5 goals is currently at +140 on BetMGM.
Rest of the slate
Seattle vs. Philadelphia: The Kraken are 1-1-1 through their first three games as an NHL team and they find themselves as +110 underdogs on the road in Philadelphia. Carter Hart's bounce-back season is off to a slow start after a 5-4 shootout loss in the Flyers' opener. I don't mind taking a shot on the Kraken as a dog.
Rangers vs. Toronto: The Maple Leafs are prohibitive -185 home favorites against the Rangers and that line is definitely too steep. As long as Igor Shesterkin starts, there's value on the Rangers at the +150 price. Toronto hasn't looked overly impressive to begin the season as they split a home-and-home series with Ottawa.
Anaheim vs. Calgary: The scoreboard and standings have been kind to Anaheim through two games. They've been thoroughly outplayed in both games, but they have a win and then lost to Minnesota in the final seconds. With that being said, Calgary is nowhere near good enough to lay -200 on.
Starting goaltenders
With Petr Mrazek injured, expect Jack Campbell to start for the Leafs almost nightly for the next few weeks. The Rangers have not announced a goaltender yet.
Both the Flyers and Kraken are going with their starters so we'll see Carter Hart and Philipp Grubauer.
John Gibson is back from injury and will start for Anaheim. Calgary will start Jacob Markstrom.
The aforementioned Carter Hutton will start for Arizona, going against Jordan Binnington for the Blues.
