NHL Free Betting Pick – Tuesday December 16th, 2014

I am 1-2 in my NHL free picks.  Tonight I like the Boston-Nashville match-up.

Boston Bruins (15-13-2, 32 pts) @ Nashville Predators (19-8-2, 40 pts)

Overview: The Boston Bruins have dropped 2 in a row and 5 of their last 6 games. On Saturday they were defeated 3-2 at home in a shootout versus Ottawa. Left-wingers Craig Cunningham and Loui Eriksson each had a goal in the game. Defenseman Zdeno Chara and Kevian Miller each had an assist in the game. Center Carl Soderbeg also had an assist. Goalie Tuukka Rask had 29 saves. The Bruins had 31 shots on goal in the game. They are 6-7-0 on the road this season. They are 5-6-0 versus Western Conference opponents. Tonight is the 1st game of a back to back. Tomorrow night they play at Minnesota. They are 22nd in the league in goals per game with 2.5 per game. They are 13th in the league in goals against with 2.6 per game. They are 19th in the league in power play % and 22nd in the league in penalty kill %. Center Patrice Bergeron leads the team in points with 20 and leads the team in assists with 15. Left-wing Brad Marchand leads the team in goals with 8. Boston is in 6th place in the Atlantic division, 9 points behind the co-leaders Detroit and Tampa Bay. The Nashville Predators come in to this evening’s face-off winners in 7 of their last 10 games. On Saturday they were defeated 2-0 at San Jose. The team lost 46 of 72 face-offs in the game. They racked up 25 penalty minutes. The Predators had 29 shots on goal. 18 of their shots on goal came in the 3rd period. Goalie Pekka Rinne had 32 saves. He had a save % of 97%. They are 11-22-1 at home this season. They have won 7 of their last 8 home games. They are 4-3-0 versus Eastern Conference opponents. Tonight is a brief one game stop at home (after they just played 3 in a row on the road) before going back on the road for 3 in a row. Their next game is Saturday at Minnesota. They are 18th in the league in goals per game with 2.6 per game. They are 1st in the league in goals against with 1.9 per game. They are 29th in the league in power play % and 19th in the league in penalty kill %. Center Filip Forsberg leads the team in points (29), goals (12), and assists (17). Nashville is in 3rd place in the Central division, 3 points behind the leading Blackhawks.

Last season Boston was victorious in both meetings with Nashville. They won by scores of 6-2 (in Nashville) and 3-2 (overtime in Boston). After tonight the 2 teams play one more time this season, December 23rd at Boston.

Prediction: The Bruins have struggled recently while the Predators have continued to be right up there with the Western Conference elite. I’m going with the fantastic home team tonight. Play: Predators +190 (Bet365)

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