This Week's Best Spot Bet Opportunities
By Ben Burns
Covers.com
Letdown spot
We’re tabbing this NHL regular season finale as our letdown spot, but it could really be dubbed a “motivational” spot, with the Pittsburgh Penguins still playing for postseason positioning and the Buffalo Sabres in full-on tank mode hoping to score projected No. 1 overall pick Connor McDavid in the upcoming NHL Draft.
The Pens visit the Sabres Saturday night and head into Thursday action sitting seventh in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh isn’t out of the woods when it comes to even making the playoff cut so there is a lot on the line. Buffalo is at the bottom of the league with 54 points, two less than Arizona. The Sabres, who have actually won three of their last five, could be counting the second to the offseason and laying down for the Pens to secure the No. 1 pick.
Lookahead spot
The Toronto Raptors have the Atlantic Division title in the bag but are still trying to secure the third spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, currently tied with the Chicago Bulls but hold the tie-breaker heading toward the weekend. Toronto has a huge matchup with the Heat Saturday night – Miami trying to sneak into the No. 8 spot - but could get caught looking ahead when it takes the court in Orlando Friday.
The Raptors visit the Magic ahead of that showdown in Miami. Toronto has won all three meetings with Orlando this season, with an average margin of victory of 10 points in those contests. The Magic did the Raps a favor Wednesday, edging the Bulls by two points and have a taste for the spoiler role now. They’ve won three in a row heading into Thursday, going 3-0 ATS in those games.
Schedule spot
Coors Field is always a tricky stadium to deal with, but it has especially draining effects this early into the season. Fresh off spring training, teams aren’t yet in tip-top shape and the thin air in Denver can quickly leave players lethargic. The Chicago Cubs head up the mountain for the Rockies' home opening series, starting Friday.
No team in the big leagues smashes more home runs in front of their faithful than Colorado. The Rockies launched a MLB-high 119 balls over the fences at Coors Field and have already done some damage with the long ball, recording five home runs in their season-opening set against the Brewers this week. Colorado won all three and scored a combined 20 runs in those three games. The Cubs and Rockies have gone Over the number in 13 of their last 18 meetings in Coors Field.