Last Updated on April 14, 2010 12:00 pm by drew
Wings-Coyotes Pick
The Detroit Red Wings haven’t been the powerful team of years past, but they begin their defense of the Western Conference title on Wednesday against the Phoenix Coyotes.
Bet the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The Coyotes are the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference while the Red Wings are the No. 5 seed.
Oddsmakers from online sports book BroburySports.com have made Detroit the favorites to win the series with a money line of -210 while the Coyotes have a line of +165.
In four meetings this year, the two teams were split, each winning two games. Three of the four games were decided by one goal, with the Red Wings picking up the lone multi-goal win, 4-1, on Jan. 2, 2010. The games were so close in this series that two of them had equal number of shots from both teams while one was only separated by a single shot.
Phoenix scored 225 goals this season while allowing 202. The Coyotes won 50 games for 107 points. The Coyotes were an impressive 29-10-2 on the season at home. The Coyotes had a very balanced team effort this season as Shane Doan led the team in points with 55 as he had 18 goals and 37 assists. Matthew Lombardi added 19 goals and 34 assists while Radim Vrbata scored 24 goals. Ilya Bryzgalov won 42 games in net for the Coyotes, earning eight shutouts with a goals against average of 2.29 and a save percentage of .920.
The Red Wings scored 229 goals on the year and allowed 216. Detroit won 44 games for 102 points. Detroit was 25-10-6 at home on the season. The Red Wings struggled early in the season as injuries piled up, but Detroit was hot in the final quarter of the season and the Wings have won eight of their last 10 games. Pavel Datsyuk led the team with 27 goals and 43 assists while Henrik Zetterberg had 23 goals and 47 assists. Nicklas Lidstrom added 40 assists while Tomas Holmstrom had 25 goals and 20 assists. Goalie Jimmy Howard won 37 games this season with three shutouts. He posted a goals against average of 2.26 and a save percentage of .920.
Phoenix has the home ice but the Red Wings have been playing more like a No. 1 or No. 2 seed than a No. 5. It is a tough draw for both teams and each is dealing with a young goalie that doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience. Still, the history is on the side of the Red Wings and that will be what gets them through to the second round in our opinion.
Our Stanley Cup Series Free Pick for this matchup is: DETROIT -210
Stanley Cup Playoffs Betting Trends
DETROIT is 6-12 ATS (-10.0 Units) revenging a home loss versus opponent this season.
PHOENIX is 50-32 ATS (+1.9 Units) in all games this season.
PHOENIX is 25-15 ATS (+5.7 Units) second half of the season this season.
PHOENIX is 11-3 ATS (+14.4 Units) when playing with 3 or more days rest over the last 2 seasons.
DETROIT is 8-3 ATS (+11.8 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
DETROIT is 9-3 (+3.9 Units) against the spread versus PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
DETROIT is 9-3-0 straight up against PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
6 of 10 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.8 Units)
Stanley Cup Playoffs Injury Report
DETROIT
[LW] 02/25/2010 – Kirk Maltby out for season ( Shoulder )
PHOENIX
[LW] 01/31/2010 – Scottie Upshall out for season ( Knee )
[D] 10/26/2009 – Kurt Sauer out indefinitely ( Head )
Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Odds
Phoenix Coyotes +165
Detroit Red Wings -210
Coyotes vs. Red Wings Series Schedule:
Wednesday, April 14 at Phoenix, 10:00 p.m. TSN, VERSUS
Friday, April 16 at Phoenix, 10:00 p.m. TSN, VERSUS
Sunday, April 18 at Detroit, 3:00 p.m. NBC, TSN
Tuesday, April 20 at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. TSN
*Friday, April 23 at Phoenix, 10:00 p.m. TSN, VERSUS
*Sunday, April 25 at Detroit, 2:00 p.m. NBC, TSN
*Tuesday, April 27 at Phoenix, TBD TSN
*If Necessary
Bet the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Posted: 4/14/10 12:00PM ET