Art Aronson Handicapper at AAA Sports

This is a 10* on OVER

The Stanley Cup Champs (St. Louis) have lost five straight games, turning the Central Division race into a tight three-way battle between them, Dallas and Colorado. All five Blues losses were to teams fighting to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. Tonight they’ll host a team from the Eastern Conference that is in last place in their own division and they are 4-0 against the previous two seasons. But New Jersey did beat Columbus in a shootout Sunday, so this may not be the “walk in the park” St. Louis is hoping for. What we’ll do is call for an Over as three of the Devils last four games have seen at least seven total goals scored. NJ has scored three or more goals in eight of its last 10 games and four or more six times. The Over is 11-5 in the Blues last 16 games and 4-1 this season if they were held to 1 goal or less in their most recent game. They lost 2-1 at Nashville Sunday. Play OVER New Jersey-St. Louis

AAA

This is an 8* on LSU

It wasn’t that long ago where LSU was the lone unbeaten team in SEC play and feeling really good about itself. But three losses in the past four games have dropped the Tigers out of the Top 25 and one game back of Kentucky in the SEC. But those three losses the Tigers recently suffered all have one thing in common and that’s they all took place on the road. In Baton Rouge, this team is still 13-1 and they’ve generally won by safe margins. Kentucky is not as dominant as you might think even though it is ranked 10th in the country. While the Wildcats have won eight of nine, most of the wins have come against the bottom half of the SEC. They have failed to cover five of the seven games they have played against teams that average at least 77 points game. LSU averages more than that. LSU is undervalued tonight at home. Play on LSU

AAA

This is a 10* on ILLINOIS

Penn State is undoubtedly a hot team right. Having achieved a top 10 ranking (#9) for the first time in forever, the Nittany Lions are on an 8-0 win streak - both straight up and against the spread. Their latest conquest took place Saturday when they defeated Northwestern 77-61. It was their largest margin of victory during the win streak. Of course, Northwestern also just so happens to be the worst team in the Big 10. Illinois, while having lost four in a row, is still considered to be a NCAA Tournament team and it wasn’t that long ago that they were leading the conference! The Illini’s rough patch has included games vs. Maryland and Michigan State as well as road trips to Iowa and Rutgers. Really, they shouldn’t have been favored to win any of those games. They obviously don’t deserve to be favored tonight either, but the spread is too high in our estimation considering where Illinois was just a short time ago. Play on ILLINOIS

AAA