Boston Bruins vs. New Jersey Devils - 12/31/19 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Boston Bruins vs New Jersey Devils

Date: Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Location: Prudential Center in Newark, NJ

TV: NESN/MSG

Odds/Point Spread: Bruins (-195) Devils (+175)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins (24-7-9, 1st in the Atlantic Division) go to Prudential Center on Tuesday where they'll meet the New Jersey Devils (13-19-6, 8th in the Metropolitan Division). The Devils open this contest at +175 while the Bruins are priced at -195. The O/U opens at 5.5. The Bruins cover 60.0% of the time, having gone 24-16 SU. The Devils cover 32.4% of the time, going 12-25 straight up.

The Boston Bruins head into this game holding a record of 24 victories and 7 defeats, putting them at 1st in the Atlantic Division. Thus far in the season, they have scored a total of 136 goals which has them ranked at 3rd in the East and 4th in the league. Their goal differential is +39, putting them at 1st in the league. The Bruins have earned a total of 57 points, which has them ranked at 3rd in the league and 2nd in the conference. Regarding shots at the opposition, they have earned a total of 1,243 which has them ranked at 9th in the East and 16th in the league. As a unit, Boston has obtained a total of 906 hits which means they are averaging 22.7 per contest. They have earned a total of 435 blocks for the year. The goalie for Boston is Tuukka Rask from Caledonia, Ontario. He is 32 years old and has totaled 1,454 minutes defending the net for the season. Kinkaid is conceding an average of 2.31 goals per contest which has him ranked 5th in the Eastern Conference and 8th in the NHL among goaltenders. For the season, he's surrendered 56 goals. His save % is .923 which has him ranked 4th in the Eastern Conference.

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The Boston Bruins came out of this game feeling pretty good about themselves with a 3 - 2 win against the Buffalo Sabres in their previous contest. The Bruins had a middle of the road offensive performance in this win. For this matchup, they finished 3 of the 22 shots they attempted. Furthermore, they had 6 power play attempts and scored 2 goals out of those chances. Boston had 6 penalty minutes in this game. The Corsi for the Bruins sat at 30 and the Corsi against at even strength was 38 giving them a Corsi percentage of 44.1%. Their Fenwick sat at 23 and the Fenwick against was 29, telling us they have a Fenwick percentage of 44.2%. They earned 20 face-off wins at even strength and lost 16 of the face-offs. Their offensive zone starts came in at 45.5% and they had a PDO of 97.1 in this game. In discussing stats from the opponent, the Buffalo Sabres earned 26 shots. They ended the game with 22 penalty minutes and they earned 3 power play attempts.

The Devils are the team on the other side of the ice and for the campaign they have 13 wins and 19 losses. With regard to goal differential, they currently sit 15th in the conference and 30th in the NHL with -34. They currently have a total of 98 goals for the season which has them at 15th in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey has a team save % of .889 which currently has them ranked 27th in the NHL, which tells us there could be plenty of chances to score if they are aggressive. They have a team shooting percentage of 8.4% ranking them 14th in the Eastern Conference. In goal for New Jersey is MacKenzie Blackwood who is having an ok season by surrendering 2.89 goals against average and that places him 16th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 32nd in the NHL among goaltenders. In the 1,639 minutes he has played this season, he has given up 79 goals. His save % is .906, which has him sitting 18th among Eastern Conference goaltenders and 37th in the NHL among goaltenders.

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The New Jersey Devils squared up with the Ottawa Senators in an outing where the Devils got the victory by a final score of 4 - 3. While out there on the ice, New Jersey earned a 57.4% Corsi rating. They earned that percentage by having a Corsi of 54 while the opposition had a Corsi of 40. They earned a Fenwick percentage of 56.3% by notching a Fenwick of 40 and the Senators having a 31 Fenwick. This Corsi rating is telling of the kind of game that New Jersey played and we'd say they played well overall. Their PDO was 92.9 and their oZS percentage was 61.1%. The Devils scored 4 goals of the 34 shots on goal they attempted. They had 4 power play opportunities in this game and netted 2 out of those chances. Regarding their opponent, the Senators had 3 power play chances but were not able to take advantage. New Jersey conceded 23 shots on goal and the Senators ended up with a total of 15 penalty minutes.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take Boston (-195)

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