Michael Alexander

Rating: 2 Units

The Panthers and Islanders didn’t face each other last season, but the Panthers were 20-5-3 at home while the Islanders were 11-13-4 on the road. The Panthers opened their season with an OT win over the Penguins while the Islanders lost their first game in Carolina. The Panthers should be one of the best teams in the East this season and the Islanders have goalie questions. Take the Panthers at home.

Rating: 2 Units

The Aves were 9-3 against the Blues last season including 5-1 at home. The Aves also swept the Blues in the first round of the playoffs last season. Nathan Mackinnon is still out but this team has plenty of weapons and they are one of the most dominant teams at home. Take the Aves.

Rating: 2 Units

These teams didn’t play each other last season but the Caps were 3-1 including 2-0 at home against the Lightning in 2020. The Lightning were lucky to sneak out with a win against the Red Wings and played a dud to open the season at home. They don’t seem too motivated right now while the Caps opened up with a good win at home. Take the Caps at home at plus money.

Rating: 2 Units

This is a great line on one of the most complete teams in hockey. Carolina's season point total is 95.5 while Nashville's was set at 84.5 before the season. These teams played a preseason game on Oct. 9. Nashville won by one goal, despite getting outshot 37-17. Carolina is 17-5-0-1 in its past 23 regular season meetings against Nashville. Take the Hurricanes.

Rating: 2 Units

Neither of these teams exactly lit up the scoreboard in their last series but that is also in part because both have very good pitching staffs. Neither team has multiple guys going well right now either, and both teams will have a day off to reset their bullpens so I like the under.

Rating: 2 Units

Max Fried will start for the Braves in Game 1 after Charlie Morton pitched on short rest on Tuesday. He has been on a dominant run and he already pitched two quality starts against the Dodgers earlier this season. The Dodgers struggled against lefties this season as most of their righties actually hit right-handed pitchers better and they should have Albert Pujols at first base and AJ Pollock in the outfield instead of Gavin Lux and Cody Bellinger. In the NLCS last season, Fried faced the Dodgers twice pitching a quality start in each outing. Max Scherzer is expected to start for the Dodgers. He pitched an inning against the Giants Thursday but that was his bullpen day. The adrenaline is a little bit different for a winner take all save though, so I would expect a little bit of an energy loss. Take the Braves at home.

Rating: 2 Units

Nathan Eovaldi is just one of those guys that turns it on when the playoffs come around. He now has a career 1.93 ERA in 8 postseason appearances, and he pitched in Houston twice in 2018 in the ALCS and pitched two quality starts. Nick Pivetta has been dealing and he should be able to piggyback Eovaldi. Luis Garcia was hit hard by the White Sox in his 2nd career postseason start and he has yet to pitch more than 2.2 innings in his two starts. The Astros don’t really have anyone to bridge that gap to the back end of their bullpen now after losing pitching depth with Lance McCullers Jr. injury.

Rating: 5 Unit ACC Game of the Week

Playing on (Virginia Tech) any college football mission team (missed bowl game last year after having been a bowler the previous three seasons) if they are a home dog with revenge who allows fewer than 19.5 PPG if they are facing a foe that did not lose its last game by more than 3 points provided the foe rushes the ball for less than 288 YPG on the season is a perfect 18-0 ATS since 1990.

Rating: 2 Units

Teams coming in 3-2 and win in Game Six the prospects of donning bowling shirts improves considerably. Lose and they can begin entertaining visions of staying home for the holidays. Thus, these become pivotal games. These Game Six teams are at their best playing with the added benefit of a week of rest, going 12-7 SU and 15-4 ATS. That should be music to the ears for Kansas State. In addition, put them at home and they respond with aplomb, going 8-2 SU and 9-1 ATS. It’s where the Wildcats anticipate benefiting from home-cooking this week. And by matching them up against .600 or fewer opponents, their chances of winning improves dramatically as the teams have gone 7-0 SUATS in this role. That applies to Chris Klieman’s Kansas Sate crew.

Rating 4 Unit Big-10 Play of the Day

Purdue is one of only 10 teams in the nation that have out yarded every opponent they’ve faced this season, and besides a 5-1 spread record on the road versus conference revenge (plus 5-2 ATS with rest), they have covered 3 of the last four meetings in this series. Jeff Brohm is also 20-9 ATS as a dog, including 8-0 ATS when coming off a loss, so get out your crayons and color them dangerous. As for the sky-high Hawkeyes, they are 1-4 ATS at home with Big Ten revenge (lost to Purdue 24-20 in last season’s lid-lifter). While they knocked QB Clifford out of the PSU game last week, we’re banking they won’t do the same to the Boilermakers’ starting signal caller this week. The Clincher: Ferentz is 2-7-1 ATS as a favorite in conference games after defeating an undefeated foe, including 0-4-1 ATS at home, as well as 0-4-1 ATS versus winning opponents.

Rating: 5 Unit NCAAF Mismatch of the Week

It was a big “W” for the Utes last week in a double revenge matchup with USC, with a solid performance from new QB Cam Rising, but Utah is dragged down in this tilt with a 4-9 SUATS mark in games when coming off upset wins. Meanwhile, Arizona State is an ITS (In The Stats) darling this year, winning the yards in all six games while averaging +141 YPG. As a result, they are dominating the stat rankings this season, including No. 2 on the defensive side of the ball. With it, the overall yardage winner is 2-22 SU in the last 24 Utes games. ASU lost 21-3 at Utah in their most recent meeting in 2019, Herm Edwards’ worst loss with Arizona State since taking over the program four seasons ago. The Clincher: The Sun Devils are 14-4 ATS with revenge against an opponent coming off a SU underdog win, including 10-0 ATS against foes who allow 23 or more points per game.

Rating: 3 Units

Matt Corral is a legitimate talent, accounting for four more touchdowns against the Hogs in Saturday’s 52-51 shootout, but you know we’re not keen on laying points in conference games with bad defenses, and we won’t begin here. Toss in the Rebels’ abysmal series record of 2-13 SU in the last 15 games, plus their 1-5 ATS record overall as road favorites, and you can see why we’re headed for the betting window. Also playing against any college football road favorite off a win who allows more than 30 points per game and more than 4 yards per rush if they surrendered 60-plus points combined in its last two games before Game Seven of the season, are 3-20-1 ATS.