Anaheim Ducks (17-22-5) at Chicago Blackhawks (19-20-6)
NHL Hockey: Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 8:30 pm (United Center)
The Line: Chicago Blackhawks -145 / Anaheim Ducks +125 --- Over/Under: 6 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks meet in NHL action from the United Center on Saturday night.
The Anaheim Ducks will look to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 3-0 loss to Dallas last time out. Dallas would score once in each period with the first two goals coming with the Ducks short-handed while the 3rd goal came on an empty net with over three minutes to play. Ondrej Kase led the Ducks with 5 shots on goal while Adam Henrique and Erik Gudbranson each had 4 shots on target in the loss. John Gibson ended up with the defeat between the pipes for the Ducks after allowing two goals on 26 shots faced in the losing effort to fall to 13-17-3 on the year.
The Chicago Blackhawks will also look to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 5-2 loss to Nashville last time out. Nashville stormed out to an early 3-0 lead before Dominik Kubalik got the Blackhawks on the board with the lone goal of the 2nd period and Alex DeBrincat would cut the deficit to 3-2 early on in the 3rd period but the Preds would add a pair of empty-netters :15 apart to send Chicago back empty-handed. Corey Crawford took the loss, falling to 7-13-2 on the year after allowing 3 goals on 28 shots faced in the losing effort.
Anaheim is 8-21 in their last 29 games overall and 0-4 in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 road games. Chicago is 3-7 their last 10 home games and 2-10 in their last 12 Saturday games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against the Western Conference. The favorite is 7-1 in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.
Both of these teams got beat up in their respective last games, but the difference for me is that the Blackhawks have been playing better as of late and have been easier to back at home, while the Ducks continue to struggle no matter where they play. I just don’t see those struggles ending here and we’re sumply not getting enough plus money to take a shot on it ending here so I’ll side with Chicago in this one.
Chris’s Pick Chicago -145
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg