Scott Rickenbach Free Sports Picks & Handicapper Review

NHL Monday 10* Top Play OVER 6 in Minnesota Wild vs Montreal Canadiens @ 8:05 ET - The Wild have a lengthy road trip on deck so they will want to make the most of this opportunity on home ice. That said, look for Minny to turn to their offensive production! Minnesota has won 3 of 4 games and scored an average of 4.5 goals per game in regulation time of these games. The Wild have allowed at least 3 goals in 3 of their last 4 games. The Canadiens are having a very rough season but they have scored an average of 3.3 goals per game last 3 games. The issue for Montreal is they have allowed 3.7 goals in regulation time of their last dozen games here. Non-conference match-up. Teams have not faced in other in a long time so there is not much animosity. In other words not likely to be a defensive minded battle with a lot of physicality. Should be a lot of open ice and the Habs have major issues at the goalie position with injuries/illness. 10* OVER 6 in Minnesota

NHL Monday 9* Top Play Vegas Golden Knights +130 @ Washington Capitals @ 7:05 ET - Vegas expected to get some reinforcements on this road trip. Also, they catch the Caps off an OT win. Why does this matter? Well, since a pair of wins in early December, Washington has won B2B games only once! The Capitals have proven time and time again they struggle off a win while the Golden Knights come into this game on a run of 12 wins in 19 games. Couple that with the underdog value here and you have a great spot to back the road team at a plus money price. 9* VEGAS +130

NHL Monday 8* OVER 5.5 goals in New York Rangers vs Los Angeles Kings @ 7:05 ET - We had the over involving the Kings at New Jersey last night. The game had 3 goals after one period and had not business staying under the total of 5.5 but the fact it did is what will keep this over off of the radar screen of most today. This one goes over the total. Los Angeles looked good yesterday. They were fast in transition and played a strong north-south game getting up and down the ice quickly. The Rangers certainly know a thing or two about faster paced games of late. New York has seen each of their last 3 games total 9 or more goals and I expect more of the same here. 8* OVER 5.5 in New York Rangers

CBB Early Slaughter Monday 10* Top Play Boston College Eagles +11 @ Wake Forest Demon Deacons @ 6 ET - Wake Forest just demolished North Carolina 98-76 Saturday. Must of been pure and complete dominance, right? Hardly, you would be hard pressed to find another box score like this one! The Tar Heels had 81 shots from the field and the Demon Deacons had just 59 field goal attempts yet won by 20+ points! Highly unlikely and it was just one of those nights where UNC "couldn't throw it in the ocean" as they were just off with their shooting all night! Though WF has been hot this is the perfect letdown spot. I am not saying Boston College will get the upset but I am saying they should stay within single digits for sure and we are getting extra line value here after the Wake Forest result on Saturday. Note that the Eagles have won 2 of last 3 games and though this was preceded by a stretch of losses, note that Boston College has had only 2 losses by more than 11 points this entire season. Very comfortable with the big points here given the situation and the Eagles playing with a little more confidence after winning 2 of 3 games. 10* BOSTON COLLEGE +11

CBB Earliest Annihilation Monday 9* Top Play OVER 128.5 in Kennesaw State Owls vs Jacksonville Dolphins @ 5 ET - The Owls are off a loss and this season they have gone 4-0 and averaged 89.5 points per game! Yes some of those games were against weak competition but you can still see that Kennesaw has shown the way they respond to a loss is to push hard on the offensive end. I know Jacksonville, on the other hand, has a tendency to get involved in "grinders" as their games trend toward lower-scoring. However, the Owls are going to dictate the pace of this game on their home floor and the Dolphins will simply be forced to play up to that tempo. Both teams have high shooting percentages this season and couple that with a good pace this game should easily get into the 130s in my opinion. 9* OVER 128.5 in Kennesaw State

NBA Contrarian Crusher Monday 10* Top Play OVER 215.5 in Oklahoma City Thunder vs Chicago Bulls @ 8:10 ET - The Thunder have scored 94 ppg L3 games and the Bulls have scored 92.5 ppg L2 games. This total is a 215.5 and you would think the odds makers do not know what they are doing? Trust me...they do! In typical contrarian fashion what looks like a dead under has me going STRONG on the over in this one! This non-conference match-up will feature a lack of defense and a good pace and plenty of scoring. 10* OVER 215.5 in Oklahoma City

NBA Earliest Cash Monday 9* Top Play OVER 202 in Cleveland Cavaliers vs New York Knicks @ 7:10 ET - This total has plummeted from 207.5 to a 202 and this has gone too far in my opinion. Cavs off low-scoring win versus OKC but have gone 3-1 to the over before that with those 4 games averaging 218.5 ppg. NY has scored 108 points or more in 5 of 7 games. The Knicks have allowed 102 points or more in 4 of last 5 games. 9* OVER 202 in Cleveland