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We’ve entered the fourth season of the annual South Point-lined Play of the Day competition, effective July 1.
Starting bankrolls have reset to $10,000, with the maximum bet being to win $1,000 and the minimum wager $300. Ray Brewer won back-to-back titles in the 2015-2016 and 2016-17 seasons, after Taylor Bern prevailed in 2014-2015.
Pittsburgh Penguins at Anaheim Ducks Under 5.5 at minus-120: $480 to win $500
The NHL landscape is relatively barren tonight, with only two games on the slate. The late game features two teams that have had extremely disappointing first halves to their season, following deep playoff runs last year in Anaheim and Pittsburgh.
The Penguins are playing much better, winning four straight and five of their last six games, but they still sit in fourth place of the Metropolitan Division. Goaltender Matt Murray is still away from the team dealing with a family hardship, but backup Tristan Jarry has played well in his place lately.
Jarry has won five straight starts in net, allowing two or fewer goals in all but one of those.
On the other side, Anaheim is certainly not pleased with its fifth-place standing in the Pacific Division. The Ducks have struggled mightily with injuries this season but are finally getting close to full strength with the returns of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
John Gibson will get the start in net for the Ducks after leading Anaheim to a 4-2 win over the Kings on Saturday. Gibson has been very good this season with a 2.22 goals against average and .924 save percentage, and I expect a good showing against the Penguins’ vaunted offense.
The Ducks have had more games go under the total than any team in the NHL this year with 29 of their 45 games falling below the number (64.4 percent).
I’ll lay minus-120 and take the total under 5.5 goals tonight.
Current Standings: Granger (15-9, $13,819), Brewer (22-18, $10,910), Keefer (21-18-1, $10,786), Grimala (9-13, $6,485)