Scott Rickenbach

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach NHL Rotation #24 Tuesday 10* Top Play Calgary Flames Money Line (+) vs Toronto Maple Leafs @ 9:05 ET - The Maple Leafs hung on for a tight win when these teams met at Calgary on Sunday. Now this is the Flames final home game until February 6th and I fully expect revenge-minded Calgary to make the most of it. Leafs goalie Jack Campbell got hurt late in the game and his status is uncertain for tonight. Frederik Andersen is the normal top netminder and so he might be between the pipes anyway here but note that he had a rough road game (5 goals allowed) in his only start away from home this season. Andersen also allowed 4 goals in his lone appearance at Calgary last season. I really like the way Jacob Markstrom has been playing between the pipes for the Flames early this season and expect him to win the goaltending battle tonight. Calgary's two wins this season have come by a combined score of 8 to 2 while their two defeats each came by the slimmest of margins. As a result, the Flames are still a little undervalued right now. Give Toronto credit as they did play a hard-fought game Sunday as they were outhit but dominated in terms of blocked shots. The Flames now come back strong as they were not happy with losing the game Sunday thanks to a very late power play goal in the 2nd period that shifted momentum. Payback time from a determined Flames team Tuesday. They raise their level of play here to again bounce back off a loss. 10* CALGARY

Earliest Cash - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach NHL Rotation #5 Tuesday 8* Philadelphia Flyers Money Line (-) @ New Jersey Devils @ 7:05 ET - Great spot a play on the Flyers. They are off back to back losses including an ugly 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Bruins. The only other time they got blasted this season it was also a 6-1 loss and Philadelphia responded with a 3-0 shutout win. The Flyers have had two days off to think about what went wrong against Boston and they're fired up and ready to respond well here. Keep in mind, the Flyers lost the first game of that two game set in a shootout as they were up 2-0 heading to the third period and let it slip away and then lost 5-4 to the Bruins. Philadelphia, prior to the ugly loss Saturday, had scored an average of 3.8 goals per game this season. The Devils are off a 2-0 shutout win over the Islanders so the set-up here is perfect. Additionally, New Jersey's low-scoring victory marked the 4th time in 5 games this season that they have been held to 2 or less goals. They won't be able to keep up with the revenge-minded Flyers here. Philly got embarrassed 5-0 on home ice despite a 46-19 edge in shots on goal the last time these teams met. Payback time! 8* PHILADELPHIA

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach NBA Rotation #527 Tuesday 10* Top Play New York Knicks (+) @ Utah Jazz @ 9:05 ET - There are two ways to look at this game but I am choosing the latter. The first way to look at this match-up is that the Jazz are on an 8-0 SU and ATS run. Not only that, the 8-game run dates back to a loss against, you guessed it, the Knicks! So this is a revenge game for a red hot Utah team. However, here is how I look at this one. The Jazz are laying too many points here. They are off a string of big Western Conference wins and now face a non-conference opponent plus have back to back big games on deck against the Mavericks. I like the fact that the Knicks are on a 4-1 ATS run. Also, not only are 3 SU wins included in that run, note that the Knicks last 4 SU losses have all been by a single digit margin. The average margin of defeat for NY during this run was just 5.5 points. The Knicks have gone 7 straight games without a single loss by more than 9 points. I am grabbing the big underdog here. 10* NEW YORK KNICKS

MVC Total of the Year - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach CBB Rotation #603 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Indiana State Sycamores vs Southern Illinois Salukis @ 5 ET - Back to back match-up and yesterday's game between these teams had 98 points with about 14 minutes to go. With the game ending 69-66 for a total of 135 points that means the teams combined to average only about 2.5 points per minute over the final 14 minutes of the game. Very unusual and won't be repeated here as the first 26 minutes of the game averaged 3.77 points per minute. It was on pace for about 150 points at that point. We should see at least 140 here. Since the calendar turned the page to 2021, the Sycamores had one low-scoring game that was a complete aberration. In the other 6 games Indiana State has averaged 72 points per game. Southern Illinois has allowed an average of 78 points per game their last 4 games but are a very strong 3-point shooting team and will get their fair share of points in this one too. This total opened up in the upper 130s but has dropped into the mid-130s and is offering excellent line value as a result. 10* OVER the total in Indiana State

Total of the Month - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach EPL Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER 3 goals in West Bromwich vs Manchester City @ 3:15 ET - The last time these teams met it was a 1-1 draw and that was at Manchester City last month. In their other 9 home fixtures this season Manchester City has won 7. In other words, that result was unacceptable. That is why Manchester City will not take their foot off the gas in this one and I am expecting plenty of goals. I know that Manchester City does not score a lot of goals on the road, at least so far this season, but this match-up is different. No team in the league has conceded more than West Bromwich's 43 goals on the campaign. Also, Manchester City wants payback for the 1-1 home draw plus they can move to the top of the table by picking up all 3 points here. Will West Bromwich get on the scoresheet here? I say yes as they have scored an average of 2 goals per match over their last 3 matches across all competitions. Look for West Bromwich to score at least 1 goal in this one and I fully expect Manchester City to score at least 3 goals as well. Prior to the 1-1 draw between these clubs the 3 most recent meetings in Premier League action averaged a total of 4 goals per fixture. I am looking for at least 4 in this one today as well. 10* OVER 3 goals in West Bromwich

Free Pick UNDER 3 goals in Newcastle United vs Leeds United @ 1 ET - Newcastle is enduring a very rough patch including an inability to score goals. They have been held without a goal in any of their last 4 matches across all competitions. Leeds has numbers on the full campaign that are helping lead to this total being higher than it should be. The fact is Leeds also is having trouble finding the back of the net of late. Leeds has been held off the scoresheet in 3 straight matches across all competitions. These clubs met last month and that was a 5-2 final but the 4 preceding matches between these two all totaled 2 or less goals. Given that as well as the current form of these two, look for this fixture to see very little, if any, scoring. Free Pick UNDER 3 goals in Newcastle