Vegas invades Canada on Thursday...

Are the Blue Jackets undervalued on Thursday? ...

The Sharks may well lose 7-0 but we have to play this. We played Ducks +2 in Dallas on Monday, and Anaheim won outright. Since Oct. 28, San Jose would have covered this number (including wins) in every game but one.

Carolina is a Cup favorite but this is such a cheap price on a decent Flyers team getting +1.5 at home on Wednesday that we have to. Might be easy for the Canes to look past this one and to a bigger game Thursday in New Jersey -- maybe we get the weaker Spencer Martin in net on Wednesday in the front half of a B2B. Likely Philly goalie Ivan Fedotov has a 2.22 GAA and a .918 save percentage during a three-game winning streak.

I had no plans to play the Rangers tonight as Vancouver is a good team. However, already missing star forward Brock Boeser due to injury, the Nucks are now without another top offensive player in JT Miller, who is taking a personal leave of absence. Those two have combined for 27 points. Tough ask to beat the excellent Rangers without them.

The Wild are an excellent team, but we are getting the Blues +1.5 at essentially the same price as Minnesota ML. And St. Louis gets back arguably its best offensive player from injury tonight in Robert Thomas. He had a career-high 86 points last season and had a goal and five helpers this year in six games before going down with a fractured ankle. In their last 12 home games against Minnesota, the Blues are 9-3-0. All we want is OT ...

Brayden Point is back from injury for Tampa Bay and No. 1 netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy is in net -- the future Hall of Famer has allowed only two goals in the past three games. The Pens are without top blueliner Kris Letang and starting the massively struggling Tristan Jarry in net. He's 1-2 with a 5.37 GAA and this might be Jarry's last chance to stay in the NHL or he goes back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has to wear a giant "FROM DWIGHT" jersey on his birthday while wearing Night Swept cologne.

Second of a back-to-back for Edmonton, which played without forward Viktor Arvidsson (2G, 3A) and blueliner Darnell Nurse (2G, 7A) in Monday's loss in Montreal -- and neither will play Tuesday. Stuart Skinner will be in net and has a mediocre 3.28 GAA and .877 SV on the season. He has allowed at least three goals in four straight, and I'd think we at worst push here if that continues. The Sens are rested, quite healthy and should have the edge in net with Linus Ullmark. (2.29 home GAA).

The "new" Tristan Jarry in goal for the Pens looks a lot like the old Jarry that was sent to the minors in October; Jarry was routed in his return game vs. Columbus on Friday and now sports an unsightly 5.26 GAA this season. Not good. It goes without saying there's a big edge in goal tonight goes to the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has been posting his usual solid numbers (8-5-1, 2.15 GAA, .920 saves), and all indicators are that Jon Cooper goes again tonight with Vasilevskiy. Pittsburgh has taken several heavy losses, and Tampa Bay (and Vasilevskiy) off dominant home wins over the Jets and Devils, allowing just one goal, in front of this road trip. Play Lightning on Puck Line

San Jose's Mackenzie Blackwood has a 1.90 GAA in four November starts, while the Sharks offensively are second-to-last in the league at 2.37 goals per game. One of their better forwards, Nico Sturm (3G, 3A), is out injured. The Wings haven't announced whether it's Alex Lyon or Cam Talbot yet in net, but it doesn't much matter in my opinion. Detroit has scored just nine goals in its past five games and has been barely better than San Jose this year at 2.47 goals per. Surprised we are getting 6.5 but you can see it's quite juiced and may flip.

Unlike earlier this season, we trust the Sharks with an occasional recommendation. Though just 1-3 on the recent road swing, San Jose was within one goal in each of the games, which has been the case in nine of the last ten games. As for the Red Wings, this West Coast swing has detoured off of I-5, losing at LA and Anaheim while on the Southern California swing, and now a loser in four of their last five. Alex Lyon (2-4-0, 3.14 GAA), slated in goal tonight, hasn't been the answer for Detroit, and might give the edge in the nets the other way to the Sharks' Mackenzie Blackwood, who has posted a 1.90 GAA in four November starts. Play Sharks on Money Line

Washington has been better than I think nearly everyone expected, but it's the second of a B2B for the Caps and third game in four nights after visits to Denver and Las Vegas. Salt Lake City already feels like one of the most challenging places to play in the NHL, much less at the end of that gauntlet. Utah's Mikhail Sergachev has scored a goal in four straight home games and is the first blueliner to do so in the NHL this season. The HC has won 10 of its past 13 against Eastern Conference.

Dallas is excellent but there aren't many scenarios where I wouldn't take +2 on a hockey game. Well, maybe not if I was facing my Bizzaro self in that old USSR vs. USA bubble hockey game as I ruled. Too bad they didn't make a "Last Starfighter"-type movie from that game. Then I'm a galactic hero. Anyways. If Anaheim simply gets the first goal on a fluke, this almost certainly at worst pushes. It is expected to be Stars backup Casey DeSmith in net. He has really good numbers but is a No. 2 for a reason. The Ducks are an excellent 10-6 ATS and that's obviously not at +2.

Hard to forget this playoff battle last when none of the six games saw more than six goals scored in regulation, with three of the last four games landing either 2-1 or 1-0. That was Arturs Silovs emerging in net for the Canucks, and while he's not scheduled to start on Sunday for Vancouver, Kevin Lankinen is, and against his former Nashville team to boot. Lankinen's numbers (8-2-2, 2.60 GAA, .907 saves) have impressed as he has assumed the number one role in goal for Rick Tocchet with Thatcher Demko still sidelined. Note that Juuse Saros is having bad luck in goal for the Preds, his excellent November (1.84 GAA) resulting in only two wins in six starts because Nashville isn't scoring. Play Preds-Canucks Under

This actually went down slightly with Jonathan Quick announced as the NYR starter, and I'm not sure why considering he is 3-0 with a league-best 1.17 GAA. Seattle has won four straight but those were all with Joey Daccord in net -- and this is the second of a B2B, so it's supposed to be struggling Philipp Grubauer (1-5, 3.27 GAA). May well push ...