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**Udog** · 05-31-2017, 07:38 AM

Armadillo: Wednesday's six-pack

Pac-12 basketball records, over the last four seasons:
Arizona: 59-13 Pac-12, 8-4 NCAA
Oregon: 53-19, 9-4
Utah: 46-26: 3-2
UCLA: 44-28, 6-3
California: 39-33, 0-1
Colorado: 35-37, 0-2
Stanford: 33-39, 2-1
Arizona State: 31-41, 0-1
Oregon State: 26-46, 0-1
Washington: 25-47, 0-0
USC: 24-48, 2-2
Washington State: 17-55, 0-0

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Armadillo: Wednesday's List of 13: Mid-week musings…….

13) Best part of the Strickland/Harper shenanigans Monday night was Buster Posey totally declining to get involved. Usually, the catcher tries to keep the angry batter away from the pitcher, but Posey made no such attempt.

Harper hit two very long home runs off Strickland in the ’14 playoffs (thats 2.5 years ago!!!) in their only two previous meetings. Guess something Harper did/said ticked Strickland off.

12) I like watching baseball when they have the strike zone on the right side of the screen, so we can see if the umps miss any pitches. To me, it makes the broadcast a little better.

11) Is Nick Markakis the best active player who has never been an All-Star? He has 1,945 hits, is a solid defender, has a .358 career OB%. You’d think he would’ve made one All-Star team.

10) Jeb Bush is out as part of the group trying to buy the Miami Marlins; apparently he had “only $20M” of his own money involved in the project, not enough to make him a controlling partner, which is what he wanted.

9) 10 of the 64 teams in the NCAA college baseball tournament are located in Texas.

8) Nike stock fell 19% last year, is up only 4% this year; with the NBA Finals starting this week, Nike didn’t need Cavs-Warriors being overshadowed by Eldrick Woods’ DUI arrest. Nike does not sell golf equipment anymore, but they still sell golf clothes, which Woods endorses.

7) Houston Astros are almost definitely going to be in the playoffs; I’m curious how they’ll deal with Josh Reddick playing against lefties (Price? Sale? Lester?) in playoffs/World Series.

Reddick is a career .270 hitter vs righties, .220 vs lefties (.282 OB%). A’s once pinch-hit for him in the 4th inning of a big game because the opponent put a lefty in. So far this year he is 7-25 (.280) vs lefties; maybe the change of scenery has helped him. We’ll see.

6) Kansas Jayhawks will have six transfers amongst their 13 scholarship players next winter; only three of them will be eligible next season. Makes team chemistry a little dicey.

5) David Blatt went 83-40 as coach of the Cavaliers in the regular season, went 14-6 in playoff games and got fired. Now he coaches overseas; I think he had just enough ego to have been a really good college coach, but we’ll probably never know.

Fact of the matter is, if Lebron James wakes up one day in August and wants Tyronn Lue fired, the man is as good as gone. Probably won’t happen, but it could.

4) Not a big fan of playing the infield in; just doesn’t seem necessary, unless the runner on third is really fast. Playing fielders in opens up too many cheap hits that wouldn’t happen with a more traditional defense.

3) Joe Niekro pitched in the major leagues for 22 seasons, had 973 career at-bats with a .156 BA and hit one home run— off his brother, Hall of Fame Phil Niekro.

2) A Saudi prince lost $359M in six hours playing poker at a casino in Egypt; he also sold off five of his nine wives as a way to reduce his debt.

I knew cats had nine lives; had no idea Saudi princes had nine wives.

1) I don’t care what anyone says, Bob Uecker should’ve won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as Indians’ announcer Harry Doyle in Major League.

**Udog** · 05-31-2017, 09:13 AM

Wednesday's NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 2 Betting Preview: Predators at Penguins

Jake Guentzel ended an eight-game drought and tied Claude Lemieux (1986) and Chris Drury (1999) for the most game-winning goals by a rookie in the playoffs with four.

Nashville Predators at Pittsburgh Penguins (-150, 5.5)

Pens lead series 1-0

If it were a boxing match, the referee may have stopped the fight. Fortunately for the Pittsburgh Penguins, their heavyweight showdown versus Nashville was scored by the quality of the blows that they landed, allowing them to take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the visiting Predators on Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh's 5-3 victory Monday night came in inexplicable fashion -- the Penguins built and blew a three-goal lead before Jake Guentzel delivered the late tiebreaking tally after his team went more than 37 minutes without registering a shot on net. "It's not textbook," said Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby after the Penguins finished with the fewest shots on goal (12) by a winning team in Stanley Cup history. "We've got some things we need to improve on." The Predators, who are trailing in a series for the first time this postseason, are trying to avoid losing back-to-back games for the first time before the best-of-seven set shifts to Nashville. "I thought our guys played great," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said after Monday's game. "We hate the score, we hate the result, but we'll move forward."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, Sportsnet, TVAS

LINE HISTORY: The Penguins opened as -170 home favorites for Game 2 and the public must have liked what they saw from the Preds in the opener because by Tuesday night the moneyline was down to -150. The total opened at 5 and was quickly bumped up to 5.5.

GOALIE MATCHUP: Pekka Rinne (NAS) vs. Matt Murray (PIT)

Rinne - GP: 17, W/L: 12-5, 1.83 GAA, .934 SAVE %, 2 SO
Murray - GP: 6, W/L: 4-1, 1.62 GAA, .936 SAVE %, 1 SO

INJURY REPORT:

Predators - LW C. Wilson (Questionable, undisclosed), C R. Johansen (Out For Season, thigh), LW K. Fiala (Out For Season, leg).

Penguins - RW T. Kuhnhackl (Questionable, lower body), D C. Ruhwedel (Questionable, concussion), D K. Letang (Out for season, neck).

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (53-33-9-4, 45-42 O/U): Pekka Rinne's save percentage has steady decreased since opening the postseason with consecutive shutouts in Chicago, but he's eager to atone after allowing four goals on 11 shots Monday. "That's the best part in the playoffs," Rinne said. "You always get another opportunity, and that's going to happen on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to that." Colton Sissons continues to shine in place of injured No. 1 center Ryan Johansen with four goals in two games while center Mike Fisher returned from injury to collect two assists -- his first points of the playoffs.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (63-26-8-5, 56-39 O/U): Pittsburgh received the secondary scoring it had been missing as Conor Sheary, a 23-goal scorer during the regular season, notched his first of the playoffs and Guentzel registered his 10th of the postseason to lead all goal scorers. Guentzel ended an eight-game drought and tied Claude Lemieux (1986) and Chris Drury (1999) for the most game-winning goals by a rookie in the playoffs with four. Crosby matched Chris Kunitz with a pair of assists for his 55th career multiple-point game in the postseason, eclipsing Joe Sakic for sixth place on the all-time list.

TRENDS:

* Predators are 0-4 in their last 4 vs. Eastern Conference.
* Penguins are 1-9 in their last 10 when their opponent allows 5 goals or more in their previous game.
* Over is 5-1 in Predators last 6 after allowing 5 goals or more in their previous game.
* Under is 8-2 in Penguins last 10 Stanley Cup Finals games.
* Predators are 2-9 in the last 11 meetings.

CONSENSUS: 60 percent of users are siding with the home favorite Penguins and 52 percent of the totals wagers are on the Under.

**Udog** · 05-31-2017, 09:16 AM

High-scoring hockey has been followed by Under results in Stanley Cup final

Going back to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, playing the Under following an Over result is a perfect 7-0 winner. Game 2's total is at 5.5 goals.

A wild and crazy Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final produced a total of eight goals Monday night – the highest scoring Stanley Cup final game since Game 2 of the 2014 final and just the 21st time a Cup final game has gone Over the betting total since the 2005 NHL lockout.

The Pittsburgh Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period then were locked down by the Nashville Predators, who stormed back to tie the game 3-3 before conceding the game-winning goal and an empty net marker in the closing minutes of the third period. And that was without a first-period score from Nashville that was disallowed after review.

That 5-3 final score eclipsed the 5.5-goal total for Game 1 and sets up an interesting angle for total bettors heading into Game 2 Wednesday night, which opened with the total at 5.5 goals.

Since the lockout, Stanley Cup final games following an Over result are 4-12-1 Over/Under (75 percent Under), with three Over results coming in the deciding game of a series (no following game). The average combined score in those contests following an Over is just 4.3 goals.
Hockey betting action heating up in Vegas as puck drops on Stanley Cup final: Live From Las Vegas
The puck drops on the Stanley Cup final, and Las Vegas sportsbooks are bracing for a burst of betting action in the hours before Game 1. We talk to Johnny Avello, executive director of race and sports at the Wynn Las Vegas, about the Penguins and Predators and which team the bettors like to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup.

In fact, going back to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, playing the Under following an Over has produced a perfect 7-0 streak. And, if you take the 2010 final out of the equation – which saw the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers top the total in five of six games – you get a Over/Under record of 1-11-1 in Cup final games following an Over since 2006.

Before Game 1, the Penguins entered the Cup final with a 8-9-2 Over/Under record in the NHL playoffs while the Predators posted a 3-7-6 O/U mark in their first three postseason series. Pittsburgh is 3-3-1 O/U following an Over in these playoffs, with Nashville going 1-1-1 O/U after an Over result.

Game 2 opened with the total at 5.5 goals (Over +110, Under -130).

**Udog** · 05-31-2017, 09:35 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Wednesday, May 31

Nashville @ Pittsburgh

Game 3-4
May 31, 2017 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Nashville
14.124
Pittsburgh
10.665
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Nashville
by 3 1/2
4
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Pittsburgh
-145
5
Dunkel Pick:
Nashville
(+125); Under

NHL
Long Sheet

Wednesday, May 31

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NASHVILLE (53-33-0-13, 119 pts.) at PITTSBURGH (63-26-0-13, 139 pts.) - 5/31/2017, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
NASHVILLE is 30-35 ATS (-18.6 Units) in non-conference games over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 127-81 ATS (+42.6 Units) in all games over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 84-49 ATS (-3.5 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 47-30 ATS (+9.8 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
NASHVILLE is 242-194 ATS (+32.3 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent since 1996.
NASHVILLE is 33-20 ATS (+11.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
NASHVILLE is 25-13 ATS (+11.5 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.

Head-to-Head Series History
PITTSBURGH is 5-2 (+2.5 Units) against the spread versus NASHVILLE over the last 3 seasons
PITTSBURGH is 5-2-0 straight up against NASHVILLE over the last 3 seasons
4 of 7 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.1 Units)

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NHL
Armadillo's Write-Up

Wednesday, May 31

Pittsburgh didn’t get a shot on goal for 37:09 stretch in Game 1, still won 5-3. Nashville won five of last eight games overall- they’re 2-3 in last five road games. Under is 6-3-2 in their last 11 games. Penguins won last four home games by combined score of 16-5. Under is 4-3-2 in their last nine games. Pittsburgh is 9-2 in its last 11 games with the Predators; last four series games went over total. Nashville lost five of last six visits here. Penguins won Cup LY and in 2009; they’re 4-1 overall in Stanley Cup final series. Nashville is in its first Stanley Cup final.

Stanley Cup final
Nashville-Pittsburgh
Pitt 5-3, -$160, O5.5

NHL

Wednesday, May 31

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Trend Report
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8:00 PM
NASHVILLE vs. PITTSBURGH
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Nashville's last 7 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
Nashville is 12-5 SU in its last 17 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Pittsburgh's last 7 games when playing at home against Nashville
Pittsburgh is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Nashville

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Announcement

Wednesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/31

Wednesday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/31

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