Detroit Red Wings vs. Anaheim Mighty Ducks
Free NHL Pick: Anaheim -135 odds
Visit Touthouse.com for more expert NHL hockey picks from Nick Parsons

For a number of different reasons I believe there’s decent value on the home side in this situation: Detroit, which is 2-1 against Anaheim this season, improved to 1-0-1 on its five-game road trip with a 4-2 win at West-leading San Jose on Tuesday. Keep in mind that Detroit is just 3-7 its last 10 overall and just 2-5 its last seven on the road though. Also, Chris Osgood is likely to be between the pipes tonight in this back-to-back scenario (has lost last three starts). On the other side of the rink: Two days after he signed a four-year contract extension and one day after Anaheim (26-23-7) traded longtime No. 1 goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to Toronto, Jonas Hiller stopped 33 shots for his second shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory at Florida on Monday. The Ducks are rolling right now; 10-4 their last 14 overall and 5-0 their last five at home. Anaheim is in 11th place and five points behind Detroit (27-19-10), which currently holds the final Western Conference playoff spot. Four of the Ducks’ next six games before the two-week Olympic break are against teams ahead of them in the conference standings; suffice to say this is an important stretch for the Ducks. Bottom line: I expect Anaheim to play with a concerted effort before the break, to take advantage of this home spot, and to improve to 8-4 (+4.8 units) after a win by 2 goals or more.

If you enjoyed this article then you may be interested in:

1. NHL Betting: Detroit Red Wings vs. Anaheim Ducks Odds & Picks: May 5th 2009
2. NHL Betting: Red Wings vs. Ducks Odds & Predictions: May 12th 2009
3. Free NHL Pick: Anaheim Ducks vs. Calgary Flames Odds: November 23rd 2009
4. Free NHL Pick: Anaheim Ducks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: November 16th 2009
5. NHL Betting Picks: Anaheim Ducks vs. Vancouver Canucks: March 11th 2009