The NHL New Year kicked off with the Winter Classic from Fenway Park in Boston with the Bruins beating Philadelphia 2-1 in an exciting overtime finish with Marco Sturm scoring the winning goal. As we enter a new year, New Jersey is still leading the Eastern Conference with 61 points and Chicago and San Jose are tied atop the Western Conference with 63.
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With two straight wins the Devils have opened up a six point lead over Pittsburgh in the Atlantic division. In the Northeast, Buffalo has a seven point lead over Boston and a 10 point lead over Ottawa. Washington has a 14 point lead over Atlanta and Tampa Bay in the Southeast division.
The Blackhawks four game winning streak has help open a 10 point lead over Nashville in the Central division. In the Northwest division Calgary has surged past Colorado and now has a one point lead with Vancouver just two points behind. The Sharks have opened up a seven point lead over Phoenix and a 10 point lead over Los Angeles in the Pacific division.
The following are my top four teams in the league along with their opening and current odds to win it all.
San Jose Sharks Odds to win the Stanley Cup: Open 10/1 Current 11/2
The Sharks are currently 28-9-7 with a total of 63 points. They are 9-1 in their last 10 games. After running their winning streak to eight games with a 4-1 win over Edmonton last Saturday, the streak was snapped the very next night as they were blown out by Los Angeles 6-2. They got back in the win column with a 2-1 victory over the Blues on an overtime goal by Dany Heatley. Patrick Marleau is the leading goal scorer with 28, Joe Thornton leads the way with 47 assists. Evgeni Nabokov has a 2.31 GAA (goals against average).
New Jersey Devils Odds to Win the Stanley Cup: Open 15/1 Current 15/1
The Devils are currently 30-10-1 with a total of 61 points. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games and have won two in a row. The Devils opened the New Year with a 5-3 win over the Wild. After a scoreless 1st period Jamie Langenbrunner netted his first career hat trick with two goals in the second and one in the third. They followed that up with a 4-0 win over the Stars, giving Martin Brodeur his 106 career shutout. Zach Parise leads the team in goals with 18 and assists with 25. Brodeur has a GAA of 2.14.
Chicago Blackhawks Odds to win the Stanley Cup: Open 12/1 Current 5/1
The Blackhawks are currently 30-10-3 with a total of 63 points. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games and have won four straight. In their first game of the New Year they beat the Blues 6-3. They followed that up with a 5-2 win over the Ducks after taking a 4-0 lead early in the third. After falling behind 1-0 to the Wild early in the first, they scored four unanswered goals to seal the 4-1 win. Patrick Kane leads the team in goals with 18 and is tied with Duncan Keith in assists with 31. Christobal Huet’s GAA is 2.08.
Buffalo Sabres Odds to win the Stanley Cup: Open 30/1 Current 18/1
The Sabres are currently 27-11-4 with a total of 58 points. They are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and have a five game winning streak. On January 1st they pounded out a 4-3 win over time over the Thrashers after falling behind 3-0 in the second period. In their next game, Ryan Miller turned away 30 shots as they shutout the Canadians 1-0. Tim Connolly got the game winner in the second. Their winning streak reached five with a 5-3 win over the Lightning. Connnolly is tied with three other players with 11 goals and leads in assists with 23. Miller has a GAA of 2.05.
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