NHL Saturday Three-Game Parlay – Alex the Great in Action

Three-Game Parlay 

Game 1 Preview: Washington Capitals at Atlanta Thrashers

It’s been a big week for the Capitals. They’ve finally done the inevitable and put the “C” on Alex Ovechkin. One of their top prospects, John Carlson, scored the OT winner to give Team USA gold at the World Junior Championship. Plus, they’ve won two straight. They’re running away with the Southwest Division, they lead the league in goals scored and show absolutely no signs of slowing down. Exactly where we thought they’d be by now.  

Atlanta has been in an awful funk lately, having lost nine in a row before squeaking out a 2-1 shootout victory over the Rangers on Thursday. The losing-slide knocked the Thrashers out of a playoff spot. The win over New York started an important stretch in the schedule where Atlanta plays six of eight at home. They’re sporting an uninspiring 9-7-3 at Philips Arena, something they must improve if they want to get back into the postseason for the second time in franchise history.  

Winning Pick: Washington Capitals 

Game 2 Preview: Chicago Blackhawks at Minnesota Wild 

The Chicago Blackhawks have been tearing up the league as of late. Sporting an NHL-best 65 points, Chicago is showing the rest of the league just how good they can be when they have all of their cylinders working. Marion Hossa had back-to-back two goal games earlier in the week and has become yet another offensive force for Chicago. Their goaltending has been terrific as well. The combination of Antii Niemi and Cristobal Huet lead the league with 7 combined shutouts. The rest of the NHL is officially scared.  

Get in on the action now on NHL > > SIGN UP HERE

The Wild are coming off a big 4-1 win over Calgary on Wednesday. The victory ended a four-game slide for Minnesota. The four goals in a game was a welcome change for Minnesota, who had scored only eight times in their past four games prior to beating Calgary. Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom, who has won four of his last six games, is one win away from tying Manny Fernandez for the franchise leader in wins. It won’t be easy against a Chicago team which ranks third in the league with 137 goals scored on the season.  

Winning Pick: Chicago Blackhawks 

Game 3 Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning at Philadelphia Flyers

Tampa Bay is experiencing a bit of a hot streak, winning five of their last seven games. Martin St. Louis is doing his best to make Team Canada feel stupid by leaving him off the Olympic team. Since being snubbed, St. Louis has scored in three straight contests. The Lightning penalty kill has been a nice surprise as of late. Before Wednesday’s game against Buffalo, the Lightning PK unit successfully defended 15 straight power plays. They’ll need that kind of performance against Philadelphia and their second rank power play unit.  

There isn’t a team in the NHL who’s experiencing a bigger positive turnaround than the Philadelphia Flyers. After Thursday’s 7-4 win against Pittsburgh, the Flyers now have points in eight of their last eleven games and are finally back above the .500 mark for the first time since early December. Jeff Carter has ten points in his last seven games. But the real story is Michael Leighton. The waiver pickup goalie is 8-2-1 in his new Flyers sweater and has kept the team afloat as the wait the return of Ray Emery. Although with the way Leighton has been playing, there may be no big rush for Emery to return.

Winning Pick: Philadelphia Flyers