Happy Belated Thanksgiving to our southern neighbours. Two weeks ago, I managed to squeak out 6 of 11 winners including the Nashville-Chicago tie.  Thunder managed 5 of 6, and had the Sabres upset over the Caps, so not a horrible week after all.  Great debut article from Anthony last week, great rationale behind his choices but at a quick glance it may have been a rough night.  I could add something witty here, but I'd rather just stick to hockey!  Let's get started.

Calgary @ Pittsburgh

The Flames battled to pull out two points out of Philadelphia, thanks mainly to the solid play of Kiprusoff.  Kipper hasn't beaten the Pens in his last 3, and while some people started to write off Fleury with his early season struggles he has managed to go 7-0-1, capped with yesterday's 43 save performance against the Sens, just sick.  The Flames are a measly 4-6-2 on the road.  The Pens have won 7 of the last 8 meetings between these two at home.

Pick: H

Thunder's Pick: V

Philadelphia @ New Jersey

The Devils are simply pathetic.  They allowed the Isles to break their 14 game losing streak, they've only won 7 games on the year.  Some quick Kovalchuk stats…1 goal 3 assists in his last 14 games, he's pointless in 4 straight, and he has more PIMs than pts. this year 13 to 10.  Wow… meanwhile the league's highest scoring team was held to under 3 goals for the first time in 5 games against the Flames, and this seems like a perfect situation.  11 of the Devils 16 losses this year have been by 2 or more goals.

Pick: V+

Thunder's Pick: H

Buffalo @ Montreal

The Sabres have been slowly turning their season around, managing to go 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.  The Habs are boasting the 2^nd best defence in the league and the 2^nd best PK.  That wasn't very apparent in Atlanta last night as Alex Auld faced 47 shots and the team gave up 7 PP chances resulting in a PPG.  Price loves playing the Sabres as his 2.10 GAA and .932 SV% would suggest.

Pick: H

Thunder's Pick: V

Toronto @ Ottawa

Before yesterday the Sens had been outshot by 35 shots in their previous 4 games, a trend that they managed to stop versus the Pens, but ran into a hot Marc Andre Fleury.  The Leafs have won the last 2 games in the nation's capital, and took 4 straight in the season series last year after dropping the first two to the Sens.  Despite their improvements on D, the Leafs are 26^th in the league on the road, and have a dreadful PK of 69% away from the ACC.  Ottawa is 0-3 this year at home vs. their division while the Leafs have a matching record on the road vs. the Northeast.

Pick: T (Ottawa in the shootout)

Thunder's Pick: V

Florida @ Tampa Bay

The last time the Bolts lost 6-0 this season they came back to win the next game 5-4.  Their PP ranks first in the league at home with a 30.8% success rate, while averaging 3.7 GF/game.  Ryan Malone leads the Bolts in ppg versus Florida in the last 3 years with 14 pts. in 14 GP.  Martin St. Louis has assisted on Steven Stamkos' last 8 goals.  The Panthers offence is pitiful, as Mike Santorelli leads the team in goals… with 6 in 21 games this year.

Pick: H

Thunder's Pick: H

Anaheim @ Phoenix

Two teams in opposite directions faceoff on Saturday night, the Coyotes have reeled off 7 straight wins, while the Ducks who won 6 straight to start November are winless in their last 6.  The Ducks have been outscored 16-6 in losing 4 straight in Phoenix and haven't scored there since Halloween of last year.  The Ducks have only managed 3 road wins in 12 tries this season.  Ray Whitney is the oldest player in the league to lead his team in scoring this year 15 pts. in 19 games.

Pick: H

Thunder's Pick: H

Dallas @ St. Louis

The Blues will be looking for revenge as Jamie Benn brought the Stars back on Friday night in the third period.  First Benn scored shorthanded, before assisting on Mike Riberio's game winning goal with under 5 mins to play in the game.  The Stars haven't beaten a Western Conference opponent on the road yet this year, unfortunately for them, the Blues have the league's best home defence.  All those blowouts seem to happen on the road.

Pick: H

Thunder's Pick: V

NY Rangers @ Nashville

Despite Nashville dominating the Rangers winning 7 of the last 10 meetings, the Rangers have all 3 of their victories on the road in their last 4 visits to Nashville.  The Rangers are tied for the league lead with 8 road wins, while the Preds are trying to snap a 3 game losing streak.  Owning the  league's 2^nd worst PP won't help them get into the win column.  The Preds seem to love going to shootout's this year, with 3 of their last 4 wins coming in the extra frame, and they post an 0-0-2 home record versus Eastern conference opponents.  Let's see if they can go 65 minutes for a third straight Saturday night.

Pick: T (Rangers in the shootout)

Thunder's Pick: V

Minnesota @ Colorado

Being an Avs fan, this was painful to see, but the Wild have owned the Avs in this head to head matchup.  The Wild have won 6 of 7 at the Pepsi Center and are 13-2-2 in their last 17 meetings.  Combine that with the fact that the Wild are 4-1 versus their division while the Avs have only 1 win in 6 attempts.  In poker terms the Avs are simply dominated in this one.

Pick: V

Thunder's Pick: H

San Jose @ Edmonton

The last time these two faced off in Edmonton it was also the late game on CBC and the Sharks steam rolled over the Oilers.  After being embarrassed in Vancouver on Friday night, look for the Sharks to bounce back in a big way.  The Sharks are 3-0 this year after losing their previous game by 3 or more goals.  The Sharks have won 4 of the last 5 in Edmonton and 7 of their last 10 overall versus the Oilers.

Pick: V

Thunder's Pick: V

Chicago @ LA Kings

The Kings are taking a bit of a tumble as their Pacific Division lead has disappeared by dropping 5 of their last 6 games.  The Kings were outscored 25-15 during that stretch, however they do still hold an 8-1-0 home record.  The Kings are 1-5-1 in their last 7 versus the Hawks overall, but hold a 7-1-3 advantage at the Staples Center in their last 11.  The Kings have yet to give up a PP goal at home this year.  The Hawks can't seem to get into a rhythm on the road, but have averaged 3.6 GF/game on the road this year.

Pick: H

Thunder's Pick: V