Scott Rickenbach

Matinee Mauling - Rickenbach NHL Rotation #45 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Calgary Flames vs Anaheim Ducks @ 4:05 ET - The Ducks are off a 5-1 win at Vancouver yesterday and continue play better on the road than at home in recent weeks. That held true last week at Anaheim when the Flames annihilated the Ducks by a count of 6-0. That game went over the total and the last time these teams met at Calgary, it was a 6-1 Flames win that also went over the total. Speaking of high-scoring games, Calgary games have totaled 6 or more goals in 9 of their last 11 contests! The Flames have a tendency to give up a lot of goals on home ice and that continued in their 8-4 home loss to the Blackhawks Saturday. The good news for Calgary fans is that the Flames have scored an average of 5 goals per game their last 5 games. The Ducks have averaged 4 goals per game their last 3 games. We get a low total (5.5) here because of the long-term reputation of Anaheim and I am going to take advantage here. The Ducks are currently playing with a lot more confidence in the offensive zone but in the D-zone they have struggled to stop the Flames in many of their recent meeting. Also, John Gibson was between the pipes for Anaheim yesterday and that means veteran Ryan Miller is likely to get the start here. Miller had good road starts against the Kings, Hurricanes, and Sabres recently but all those teams were in scoring funks. The Flames certainly are not and in Miller's 4 other road starts since late November he has allowed 19 goals! Yes, that's an average of nearly 5 goals per road start! 10* OVER the total in Calgary

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach NHL Rotation #43 Monday 10* Top Play New York Islanders Money Line (+) @ Arizona Coyotes @ 4:05 ET - You can't get a much better set up than this one. The Islanders are off back to back shutout losses. The Coyotes are off a big home win over the Capitals (2018 Stanley Cup Winners) on Saturday. Arizona feels good about themselves after returning from a road trip back east on Friday and then beating Washington on Saturday. The Isles certainly don't feel good, they feel angry. They lost 1-0 at Vegas Saturday after a 5-0 thrashing at Nashville Thursday. This followed a stretch where New York had picked up at least a point in the standings in 7 of 8 games. I expect them to get right back on track here. Look for the acquisition of veteran defenseman Andy Greene to pay immediate dividends and give the Isles a jolt of energy here. The Coyotes have scored a total of just 3 goals in the last 3 meetings between these teams. The Islanders swept Arizona last season and can do it again this season with another win Monday completing the sweep. I look for them to do just that as the Coyotes win Saturday was just their 4th in the past 16 games. The road team comes into this one very hungry and won't be denied. 10* NEW YORK ISLANDERS

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach NHL Rotation #41 Monday 8* OVER the total in San Jose Sharks vs Florida Panthers @ 4:05 ET - I am aware of all the injury issues for both clubs here and I am fully expecting a big response from the slumping Panthers here. However, I do not trust the Florida goalies. As a result, and as you can see, my play is on the over in this match-up. When a team is slumping like the Panthers are, sometimes the best-case scenario is a change of scenery. So they go from getting pummeled at home in Florida to going all the way out west for a 5-game road trip. I expect this to be precisely what the Panthers need to get their offense back on track. However, in terms of their netminding, Sergei Bobrovsky is slumping badly and little-used Samuel Montembeault is not the answer! Each of these guys have GAA of 3.30 or above on the season. The Panthers, recent games notwithstanding, do score well and I expect them to be on the attack early and often against San Jose. The Sharks have allowed 4.7 goals per game in their last 3 home games. Florida has allowed 4.5 goals per game in its last 6 games overall. 8* OVER the total in San Jose

Total of the Week - Rickenbach CBB Rotation #863 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs North Carolina Tar Heels @ 7 ET - The Tar Heels have had just 4 unders in their last 15 games. North Carolina takes to the road after an intense defensive effort Saturday went for naught when Virginia drained a 3-pointer to hand the Heels a last-second loss. That is the type of game that means the Tar Heels defense won't be traveling with them here per se. It is simply very difficult to come up with strong defensive efforts in back to back games and I look for this match-up with Notre Dame to turn into a run and gun affair. Keep in mind, North Carolina had allowed 79 points per game in their two prior games (not including OT versus Duke). As for the Irish, they have allowed 77 points per game in their last 4 home games. The over went a perfect 4-0 in those games as the Fighting Irish also scored an average of 83 points per game in those home games. Notre Dame is coming off a home game versus Duke in which they allowed 94 points. The Irish offensive production has been bottled up in recent games but that had a lot to do with whom they were facing. That all changes here against a Tar Heels team having a rough season. This game played very loose with plenty of points considering what these teams are coming off of. The first game between these teams this season continued the trend of unders in recent meetings between these foes. However, the pace was there for an over and the situation with both these teams is much different late in the season than it was early in the season. North Carolina becoming cemented in the bottom of the ACC standings and the Irish turn to their normally potent offense at home to carry them in this one. The result will be an absolute shootout. 10* OVER the total in Notre Dame

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach CBB Rotation #861 Monday 10* Top Play Xavier Musketeers (-) @ St John's Red Storm @ 6:30 ET - The Musketeers enter this game on a perfect 4-0 ATS run. Xavier is also a perfect 10-0 SU in the last 10 meetings between these teams. The Red Storm are 0-3 SU when off a win. Keep in mind St John's had lost 9 of their last 11 games before their rare win over Providence Wednesday. The Musketeers had won 3 in a row before their loss at Butler Wednesday. The Red Storm are also now without 2nd leading scorer Mustapha Heron. You can see that we have triple perfect support in terms of trending for this play. With the Musketeers off a loss and St John's off a rare win, I am looking for the streak to reach 11 in a row in this series! 10* XAVIER