Good morning Pickswise Nation and welcome to Wise n’ Shine, your one-stop shop for everything you need to know to bet better today!
Hockey is officially back as the NHL season got underway with the Penguins pulling a huge upset over the Lightning, while two teams were eliminated from the MLB playoffs. We have a day off from baseball today, but we still have some exciting hockey action to look forward to. Let’s break it down!
Astros and Braves advance to ALCS and NLCS
Game 4 between the Astros and White Sox being delayed by 24 hours worked greatly in Houston’s favor, as Lance McCullers led his team to a dominant 10-1 win over Chicago to advance to the ALCS. Meanwhile, the Braves eliminated the Brewers courtesy of a 5-4 victory, as they scored a run in the 8th inning to make the difference. The Astros are now favorites to win the World Series at +170 odds, while the Braves are still the outsiders at +600 with FanDuel Sportsbook.
Penguins pummel Lightning
There’s nothing like a shock result to start the new NHL season. The Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning were -240 favorites to beat Pittsburgh last night, but the Penguins cracked their opponents in the mouth as they roared to an easy 6-2 win. Meanwhile, the Kraken went down 4-3 to the Golden Knights in Seattle’s first NHL game.
NHL action continues
It was a fun opening night on the ice and we have more teams starting their seasons today with a five-game slate to look forward to. Two games will be nationally televised on TNT, as the New York Rangers battle the Washington Capitals (7:30pm ET) before the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Colorado Avalanche. Make sure you read our picks for all of tonight’s games.
Edmonton Oilers ML vs Vancouver Canucks
10pm ET, ESPN+
The Canucks signed 17 players on the first day of free agency, and there are a ton of new faces on the roster. They begin the 2021-22 season with 6 straight road games, the first of which comes against 2 of the best players in the league — Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Look for the Oilers to come out firing in front of their home crowd. Read our full game preview for Canucks vs Oilers.
Become a smarter bettor by watching our daily show Let’s Bet It! with regular hosts Jared Smith, Lauren Jbara, and Alex Glaze. Check it out at our YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/c/Pickswise later today as the team break down the day’s best bets, and look ahead to the rest of the sports betting week.
Check out our great NFL betting content as our team of experts digests last week’s action and looks ahead to this week’s slate of games. We give our thoughts on whether the Raiders can recover their season after Gruden’s departure in The Burning Question, Jared Smith goes Back to the Futures as he looks at all the odds moves, and we have our updated Pickswise Power Rankings! Be sure to head over to the Analysis tab for even more great betting content.
In 108 plate appearances against White Sox starter Carlos Rodon, the Astros hitters have a .184 batting average with a .167 xBA and a 26.9 percent strikeout rate.
The CJ Cup is this week’s PGA Tour golf event, and FanDuel Sportsbook has boosted the odds on either Johnson, Thomas, or Morikawa winning it to +470 (from +370).
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