Detroit Red Wings at Phoenix Coyotes NHL Odds

• Monday, February 6th, 2012

  By  Ken Williams

  

  The Detroit Red Wings are favored in NHL odds at Diamond Sportsbook on Monday night at Phoenix but the Red Wings will be without starting goaltender Jimmy Howard. This should be a very competitive game that can be seen on the NBC Sports Network.

  Howard is Out

  Many bettors will be taking Detroit on Monday night against the NHL odds but there is a huge red flag to taking the Red Wings because Jimmy Howard is out. Howard has a broken finger and is expected to miss a couple of weeks. Detroit has not shown they have a quality backup as neither Ty Conklin nor Joey MacDonald has played that well. The Red Wings lost their first game without Howard as they were beaten 5-4 in a shootout at Edmonton on Saturday night. Conklin was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots. MacDonald came in and played well but he has not played that much and is not considered a quality backup. Conklin has just been terrible recently so it is hard to take the Red Wings if he is in goal. MacDonald was good against Edmonton but he had been in the minors until being called up. Detroit could be in the market for a goalie to backup Howard so don’t be surprised if they make a move in the next few days to get someone like New York’s Evgeni Nabokov or Edmonton’s Nikolai Khabibulin.

  Coyotes Playing with Desperation

  If Phoenix is to make the playoffs they can’t afford to lose many more games. The Coyotes got a huge win on Saturday as they beat San Jose 5-3. The Coyotes will be facing a lot of Western Conference teams to end the season as only one of their remaining 30 games is against a team from the East.

  Game Notes

  The Red Wings are 21-6-3 in the last 30 meetings in Phoenix. The Red Wings are 13-3 in their last 16 vs. the Pacific. The Coyotes are 5-13 in their last 18 overall. The Coyotes are 0-6 in their last 6 vs. the Central. The Under is 8-3 in the Red Wings last 11 overall. The Over is 9-4-3 in the Coyotes last 16 vs. the Central.

  NHL Pick

  This would be a great spot to take Detroit if Howard was healthy but he is out so we’ll look at the total. The Over is 9-3-3 in the last 15 meetings in Phoenix between the two teams. We’ll take the over with our NHL pick for Monday night.

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