Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Picks

            NBC must’ve vomited when they saw the western conference match-ups take shape.

#1 New York Rangers vs. #7 Washington Capitals

           New York struggled in surviving their first round series with Ottawa. Washington played way over their heads against the Bruins. No Credentials is predicting a market correction in this match-up.

Rangers over Capitals 4-2

#5 Philadelphia Flyers vs. #6 New Jersey Devils

            The Devils do not have the defensive fortitude to slow down the Flyers juggernaut of an offense. Of all the series, this one should be the most lopsided (you know what that means folks. Get your money on the Devils right now).

Flyers over Devils 4-0

#3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #4 Nashville Predators

            Now that the Bruins are out, I plan on spending the rest of the playoffs picking against Mike Smith and the Coyotes until they hoist the Stanley Cup.

Predators over Coyotes 4-2

#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings

            This will be the lowest scoring series of the second round. St. Louis has more depth, but I like Jonathon Quick a smidge more than the Elliott/Halak tandem. I won’t be betting on this series.

Kings over Blues 4-3

Steelers-Browns, Plus Bonus NHL Picks

Browns (+14) over STEELERS
Pittsburgh has played down to the level of a couple of teams this season (Jacksonville at home in Week 6, both Indianapolis and Kansas City on the road), and I forsee a similar situation tonight. Pittsburgh is going to win, but it won't be pretty (or convincing).

Pittsburgh 20, Cleveland 10
Confidence Score = 6

Now on to my newest gambling endeavor...NHL parlays!

After two miserable parlays on Monday (three of the four teams I picked lost. Ouch), I scored my first career NHL parlay victory with of all combos, the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames Tuesday night. Amazingly, I wasn't struck by lightning today because of this. Here is a couple of combinations I may have put together (and wagered on) for tonights action (because you know, I'm 1-2 doing these, so clearly I'm an expert).

Panthers (+170) over BRUINS
DEVILS (-140) over Senators

I'm not sure how Boston will respond after Tyler Seguin makes his return from his one game benching, and Ottawa was the only team on tonight's slate that played last night. Bet $5.00 to potentially turn it into $23.14.

Coyotes (+140) over RED WINGS
RANGERS (-165) over Lightning

Phoenix always gives Detroit problems, and they actually play better on the road (9-4-1) then at home (I guess that isn't too shocking, because roughly 36 people give a shit about hockey in the state of Arizona). As for the Rangers, they are playing a crappy Lightning team. $5.00 could morph into $19.27 if both these teams win.

As always, I highly advise all of you to find your local bookie and wager on the exact opposite. We'll briefly discuss how bad these two hockey bets were before the Week 14 NFL picks.