As you can see, I’m running out of clever puns so I’m resorting to the same thing Hollywood does when they can’t come up with anything clever and just making this a sequel.  Decent day yesterday thanks to some dumb luck.  Our NHL play won, improving our record in hockey since we started on SportsUntapped to 12-6.  Our college football play lost late, but we won a gift play in the NBA on the Portland/Milwaukee ‘over’.  The play looked sunk after the Blazers shot in the 30% range in the first half, but two overtimes later it went ‘over’.

Now I’m not a big believer in ‘luck’ as it relates to sports handicapping.  Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don’t but its what you do in between that determines your level of success.  Last night’s Blazer/Bucks ‘over’ was luck, pure and simple but we’ll take it.  Anyway, that improves our ATS record here at SportsUntapped to 19-11.  That’s 63.3% and better than any tout service that you’ll find no matter how much you pay them.  We won’t always hit 63.3%, but we’ll always work our ass off to find the best value wagers on the board.

So back to the NHL and a play that gives us the rare opportunity to use a picture of a sexy girl on ice skates carrying a shovel:

TAMPA BAY VS. CHICAGO

Perhaps more so than any team in the NHL, the Chicago Blackhawks live and die with their defense.  Their offense has been surprisingly unproductive this season.  Statistically, they don’t *look* that bad ranked 14th in the NHL at 2.83 per game, but 14 of those goals came in two 7 goal blowout romps.  Subtract those two games, and the Blackhawks would be scoring at a clip of 2.53 goals per game which would have them tied for 22nd in the league.  They’d still be ahead of Tampa Bay, who ranks #27 in scoring offense with 2.45 goals per game.

Defensively, the Blackhawks are dominant.  They’re #1 in the NHL in scoring defense with 2.13 goals per game and more significantly perhaps they limit opponents to fewer shots than any team in the league (24.5 per game).  The Blackhawks have gone ‘under’ in 9 of 15 at home, and even more amazing is their mark of going ‘under’ in 10 of 12 games this year against sub .500 teams.  This suggests that Chicago overwhelms inferior foes not by outscoring them, but by putting the clamp down.

Tampa Bay hasn’t gone ‘over’ in their past seven games (5 UN, 2 push) while Chicago has gone ‘under’ in four straight and six of seven.  Look for this one to go ‘under’ as well.

PLAY CHICAGO/TAMPA BAY UNDER 5′

Related posts:

1. NHL Free Play for December 14, 2009–Coyote Cafe
2. NHL Free Play for 12/2/09: Ursine Under
3. NHL Free Play for 11/22/09: Blackhawks Rising
4. NHL Betting Free Picks For Friday: Blackhawks vs. Canucks
5. NHL Free Play for 12/11/09: Blackhawks Down