Art Aronson

This is a 7* play on CAROLINA

The NHL’s Metropolitan Division has been controlled by Washington and Pittsburgh ever since realignment took place several seasons back. Those two franchises are back on top this year. But right behind them is a crowded field of playoff contenders. Count the Islanders and Hurricanes among them. Even though Carolina is sitting in sixth place with 57 points, that’s just three points back of the third place Islanders. Besides Washington and Pittsburgh, it is the Hurricanes that have the division’s best goal differential at +23. But three straight losses are what has the Canes in the position they are in right now. Two of those were division losses, but both were on the road. Losing 2-1 to Anaheim here at home Friday was not good, but we see Carolina bouncing back here and reasserting itself. Prior to losing to Anaheim, the Hurricanes had won three in a row at home, two of them shutouts. The Islanders lost to Washington yesterday, 6-4, and have now dropped four of their last five games. The only win was over Detroit, the worst team in the league. Carolina has had just one four-game losing streak this season. Won’t happen again. Play on CAROLINA

AAA

This is a 10* on CAL

Two struggling Pac 12 teams close out the week against one another. California won a couple home games last week, beating the Pac 12’s Washington contingent, but failed to “show up” in an ugly 88-56 loss at USC on Thursday. Going back, the Bears have lost 5 of 7 and 7 out of the last 10 games. All the wins were in Berkeley. They’re on the road tonight, but UCLA is struggling in its own right. The Bruins have lost three in a row and six of their last seven games. They also could not even muster 60 points in their last game as they fell to Stanford on Wednesday. UCLA is 1-7 ATS its last eight games, so the idea of laying this many points with them is not appetizing to say the least. The team’s only win since December 14th was by two points at Washington. We don’t see how you could lay the points in this one. Play on CALIFORNIA

AAA

This is a 10* on DENVER

Denver is second in the Western Conference with a 29-12 SU record. They’ve come out ahead in five of the last six games, including each of the last three. They continue to be a strong home team as their record here in the Mile High City is 17-5 and they hold opponents to 103.1 PPG. Indiana, like most of the teams in the Eastern Conference, are strong at home but only so-so on the road. The Pacers have won four straight overall, but any of the last three could have been a loss. Now Denver did need OT to get by Golden State Thursday. But that was a road game. This seems like an awfully low number for the Nuggets to be laying on their home floor. We realize there are injuries that they are dealing with, but they still scored 134 points against the Warriors even without Murray, Milsap and Harris. Milsap could be back in the lineup tonight. Denver won 126-114 at Indiana earlier this month and is a deep team. Indiana is 6-14-1 ATS its last 21 road games vs. teams who have a home win percentage of better than .600. Play on DENVER

AAA

This is a 10* on the UNDER

Green Bay’s offense did next to nothing when it faced the San Francisco defense in the regular season. They were held to eight points, a pathetic 81 yards passing and just 2.8 yards per play. They’re bound to do better this time, but will the 49ers score 37 points again? Not likely. Since taking it on the chin from the 49ers, the Pack are an undefeated 6-0 and allowing just 15.7 points/game. San Francisco is giving up only 18.8 points/game (5th), GB isn’t far behind as it gives up just 19.8 points/game (9th). The Under is 5-1 the last six times GB has been an underdog. As it turns out, the regular season matchup between these two teams did stay Under a near identical total. The Packers were only three-point underdogs for that game. Including last week’s 27-10 win over Minnesota, the Under is 4-0 the 49ers past four playoff games. The Packers, as we predicted they would, went Over last week. But that was against a bad Seattle defense. Play UNDER Green Bay-San Francisco

AAA

This is a 10* on TENNESSEE

Tennessee will seek to become the first 9-7 team to make the Super Bowl since the Giants in 2011. So far they have knocked off the Patriots and Ravens, both on the road. That’s the defending Super Bowl Champs and the team that finished with the best record in the league this year. Considering how well the Titans have played since Ryan Tannehill took over as the starting QB (gone 9-3), we just don’t think they should be getting this many points. We were dead wrong to go against them last week in Baltimore. A key edge for Tennessee against Kansas City is the running game with Derrick Henry. Henry has already run for 377 yards in two playoff games. He ran for 188 more in Week 10 over the Chiefs. In three career games vs. Kansas City, all of them wins, Henry has run well. The Chiefs defense has consistently been bad against the run this year as it ranks 26th in yards per game and 29th in yards per rush attempt allowed. Tennessee is 4-0 SU/ATS the L4 meetings vs. Kansas City including a playoff upset here at Arrowhead back in 2017. The Chiefs were able to storm back from a 24-0 deficit last week against Houston and score 51 points. But the Titans are much stronger defensively than the Texans are. Baltimore and New England combined for just 25 points against them. For the year, they give up just 19.8 points/game and were even better than that on the road. Not saying the Titans win outright, but they’ll cover the spread. Play on TENNESSEE

AAA