Bryan Power

7* Nashville (8:05 ET): You can bet the Predators will be eager to take the ice Tuesday after they were embarrassed here at home their last time out. Friday’s 7-2 loss to the Blackhawks was the Preds’ fourth straight setback and sixth in the last seven games. Goaltending, once considered a major strength, has been real shaky of late w/ 22 goals allowed in the four games. Uncharacteristically, Pekka Rinne has been pulled in two different times in the past week. I expect a big bounce back from the Preds in this spot as the team has an 8-1 record the last nine times it has been off a home loss by 3+ goals. 

Winnipeg comes in off B2B road wins. They defeated Florida & Tampa Bay by identical 4-3 scores to start what will be a four-game trip (ends in Dallas Thursday). The Jets have won six of eight overall, but interestingly enough have lost both times they’ve been off B2B wins. They’ve won three in a row just one time all season. A four-game road winning streak has seen them prevail by a one-goal margin every time. In fact, the Jets are a very fortunate 9-1-1 SU in all one-goal games this season, a win percentage that cannot be maintained in that situation. 

On the year, the Jets are still giving up 3.5 goals per game away from home. Despite the recent results, Winnipeg has still been outscored on the season while Nashville has a positive goal differential. Should he be back in goal tonight, Rinne is too good to have these struggles continue. The most shocking thing of all about that 7-2 loss to Chicago is that Nashville finished w/ a substantial edge in shots on goal (41-24). The Jets tend to give up a far higher volume of shot attempts compared to the Predators. Nashville certainly remembers losing three of four to Winnipeg last season, which adds to their motivation here. 7* Nashville

10* New Mexico (9:00 ET): This battle of unbeatens finds New Mexico departing campus for the first time, but it won’t be a long trip for the Lobos as they head to El Paso to face annual rival UTEP. This will be the fourth season in a row these schools are playing and while the home team is 3-0 SU, it has been the Miners leaving w/ the cash on every occasion. But compared to last year, this number has changed dramatically as UTEP was a 16-pt dog when it covered LY in Albuquerque (lost 84-78). They are 8-1-1 ATS the L10 meetings w/ UNM, but this could be the first time since ’99 that they go off as the favorite. 

New Mexico’s four wins have not only all come at home, but they’ve all been by double digits. The most recent was a 90-80 triumph against McNeese State on Sunday in spite of allowing 50.9% shooting. In the first three games, the Lobos never allowed higher than 44.4% shooting. At the same time, they’ve scored at least 90 in every contest. In three of the four games, they’ve had five players finish in double figures. This is a good team. 

UTEP has held its first three overmatched opponents to an average of 59.0 PPG. They did defeat a New Mexico State team who is awaiting on deck for New Mexico. The Miners were 2.5-pt home underdogs in that game, which they won 65-50. Their other two wins came against non-DI opponents.  There has been one common opponent for these two teams, that being Eastern New Mexico, whom New Mexico defeated by 21 and UTEP beat by 14. I simply feel that the better team here is the one that opened as an underdog. Don’t be surprised if this number “jumps the fence” prior to tipoff. 10* New Mexico

10* Under Suns/Kings (10:05 ET): The Suns and Kings have been two of the best bets in the NBA this season. Given the respective struggles of the two franchises over the last decade, that’s not something I anticipated writing. Phoenix enters at 9-3 vs. the number (best ATS record in the league) while Sacramento has covered every game in November (7-0 ATS) following an 0-5 ATS October. Something will have to give here. But it’s the total I’m more interested in tonight. 

The fact that both teams have been playing short-handed makes their respective ATS success all the more surprising. The Suns are w/o last year’s #1 overall DC DeAndre Ayton, who got hit w/ a 25-game suspension for failing a drug test. That suspension occurred pretty early in the season (Ayton played just ONE game), yet initially Phoenix showed no ill-effects. After seven games, the team was 5-2 SU and a perfect 7-0 ATS. They are now 7-5 SU/9-3 ATS. The one game Ayton played in was against these Kings and he scored 18 pts on 9 of 14 shooting. The team scored 124 points in a rout, but I don’t suspect that will be happening again tonight. 

Also hurting the Suns here is the fact they played last night. They lost 99-85 at home to Boston in what was pretty easily their lowest scoring game of the year. That result snapped a 5-game Over streak as well. Now the Celtics are one of the league’s top defensive teams. But surprisingly, Sacramento has kept its last three opponents all below 100 pts. All three games stayed Under. It must be mentioned that the Kings are playing w/o De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III, so it’s going to be a struggle for them to score moving forward. Buddy Hield had a season-best 35 points w/ seven three-pointers made vs. Boston on Sunday, something I do not see him doing again here. 10* Under Suns/Kings

10* Under Eastern Michigan/Northern Illinois (7:30 ET): You know how this goes. Northern Illinois has gone Over in each of its last five games, so we’re going to go the other way. After seeing totals mostly in the 40’s, last Wednesday the Huskies did go Over 55.5 in a 31-28 win over Toledo. But, of note, is the fact they held the Rockets to just 7 points in the first three quarters. By winning that game, NIU kept alive its chances of becoming bowl eligible (currently 4-6 SU) and now they must win their final two games, both of which are at home where they are allowing just 12.3 PPG on the year.

This is the second straight Tuesday game for Eastern Michigan. One week ago, the Eagles scored a season-high 42 points in a victory, but that came at the expense of winless Akron. It’ll be a much tougher defense that EMU is facing this week. The Eagles are on a 3-game Over streak of their own heading into this contest, but like Northern Illinois, the O/U lines have generally been lower. Tonight’s visitors are 3-1-1 to the Under this season with a total of 54.5 pts or higher. Last week was just the third time all season that NIU has scored more than 24 points.

A lot has been written this year about this not being the same caliber of Northern Illinois football that we are used to seeing. That’s true, but it’s also fair to point out that Huskies have gotten to play only three games in DeKalb! Getting these last two at home is huge for their bowl prospects. I mentioned earlier that the Huskies are allowing only 12.3 PPG here and while a lot of that has to do w/ the fact two of the games were against Akron (shutout) and a FCS school (Illinois State), they did hold Ball State to just 269 total yards in a 27-20 loss back on Oct 5. Eastern Michigan also needs a win to become bowl eligible, so they won’t be run over here. Incredibly, the last three head to head meetings have all gone to OT. Yet none of the three games have seen more than 57 total pts scored and last year’s 26-23 NIU win went to THREE overtimes! 10* Under Eastern Michigan/Northern Illinois