[tinfw17]

Chicago -1½ +1.96 over Florida (12:00 PM) Pinnacle
Early afternoon action sees the powerful looking Blackhawks facing the Jay Bouwmeester-less Florida Panthers in a game that’ll be played overseas in Helsinki. The Blackhawks are simply loaded with talent and they added a couple of very key ingredients to its roster, most notably, penalty killer extraordinaire, John Madden. Madden not only kills penalties better than anyone, he is also capable of 20 goals and you’ll usually find him playing and frustrating the opposition’s top line. Add another year to all this young and tremendous talent and that makes Chicago even more dangerous. The news out of Finland is that many of the Panthers have come down with the flu so get on this one early. Even without the flu, the Panthers would be hard-pressed to keep this close. Olli Jokinen is gone and now so is Jay Bouwmeester. That leaves the top guys being David Booth, Michael Frolik and Nathan Horton. Since the 1995-96 season, Florida has missed out on the postseason 10 of 12 times and they’re now on their ninth head coach in Peter DeBoer. On top of Florida’s frustration on the ice, the Panthers are going through even more turmoil off of it. Team owner Alan Cohen wants to sell the team that has reportedly lost more than $100 million since his ownership group purchased the Panthers in 2001. Oh, they also do not have a GM and their off-season acquisitions were Jordan Leopold, Ville Koistinen, Steven Reinprecht, Jeff Taffe and Scott Clemmensen. All the Panthers troubles will trickle right down to the ice beginning with this back-to-back opening series against a serious contender. Play: Chicago -1½ +1.96 (Risking 2 units).

St. Louis +1.40 over Detroit (3:00 PM) Pinnacle
This one goes in Sweden at 3:00 PM. The talk around hockey circles is that the Red Wings dynasty is over because of aging players and a lack of strong goaltending but that kind of talk is extremely premature. Yeah, the Wings lost to Pittsburgh in the playoffs last year but Detroit was without Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Rafalski and Cleary and that’s the only reason they lost. Detroit still has some of the best players in the league and they’ll be very tough to beat as always. However, in this opener, the Blue Notes are the choice because of a nice price on them and because they can definitely win this one. In fact, they might even be better than the Red Wings. Remember, the Blue Notes were amazing in the second half last season, going a league-best 25-9-7 and grabbing the sixth seed. Also remember that the Blues were missing Erik Johnson, the first player drafted overall in 2006, Eric Brewer played in just 28 games and Paul Kariya played in 11 games after registering 15 points in those first 11 games. That trio is ready to start the season and when you throw in emerging stars T.J. Oshie, Patrick Berglund, David Perron and David Backes to the equation you have an extremely dangerous and talented squad. The Blues also have solid goaltending. Keep a close eye on these Blues because prices like this on them are not going to last long. Overlay. Play: St. Louis +1.40 (Risking 2 units).

[tinfw17]

CFL

WINNIPEG +4 over Edmonton PinnacleSports
The Eskies as a road favorite do not offer up much value, especially when you consider a brutal defense that is last in the league in yards surrendered. The Bombers offense leaves plenty to be desired but they can run the ball here and again, the defense they’ll face may allow them to look a whole lot better. You might remember the opening game of the year in Edmonton when the Eskies barely held for a 19-17 win and were the second best team on the field that day. Also note that the Blue Bombers are coming off a win and one win can do wonders to a team’s morale. I also like the Bombers defense, which is one of the best bar none. If that defense can get some rest and the Bombers can move the ball on the ground, they absolutely have a chance to pull off the upset. I’m seldom in favor of laying road points with a team that can’t stop anyone and make no exception here. Play: Winnipeg +4 (Risking 2.12 units to win 2).