Tuesday NHL betting takes us to the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit where the surging Red Wings host the lowly Edmonton Oilers.  After spending much of the season out of the playoff picture the Red Wings have gotten hot at the right time, winning 8 of their L10 games to move into 6th place in the Western Conference.  Edmonton is going nowhere, having lost 7 of 10 and will finish with the worst record in the NHL.  I couldn’t find any hot Red Wings chicks so you’ll have to make do with this creepy doll.

DETROIT RED WINGS VS. EDMONTON OILERS:

The Red Wings are a huge favorite of -400 here, but here’s a surprise–the Oilers have won all three meetings this season.  You can be certain that the Red Wings won’t let them get the sweep, and that is a good part of our handicap here.  This is actually an important game for Detroit who can still pick off a couple of the teams ahead of them in the standings.  Detroit has the #13 ranked scoring offense in the NHL, but they’ve improved their defense dramatically as the season has progressed and they now rank #6 in goals against per game.  The Oilers, of course, are dead last in scoring defense allowing an average of 3.33 goals per game.  They’re also 29th in scoring offense and when rank at the bottom of both categories you’re not going to win a lot of hockey games.

The Red Wings won’t need to play with their usual defensive intensity here, as they can just open it up and outscore the hapless Oilers.  Detroit has gone Over the total in 6 of their last 8 at home, with both Under verdicts coming against top level competition.  Oilers have gone Under in four of their last five, but that works to our favor giving us some line value here.  Wings could get the Over on their own as they trounce a team that somehow has managed to beat them in three straight games this season.

PLAY DETROIT/EDMONTON OVER 5′ -120