Xam’s Daily Gem:
Coyotes +1.5 -135
The Coyotes have been in freefall recently, losing 7 straight games. However, despite their run of poor play, they’ve been good at home, posting a 15-11 record at Mullett Arena. The Hurricanes, despite being 4th in the East with a 30-17-5 record, haven’t been great on the road. They’re just 13-11-1 away from home this season. Furthermore, they’ve played a lot of close games on the road. 6 of their 17 road wins have been by one goal. Despite their overall success defensively, the Coyotes have been inconsistent in their last 10 games. In 4 of those 10 games, they’ve given up 5 or more goals. They have to tighten that up if they want a shot against the Hurricanes. Carolina can score in bunches if you’re not on point. Carolina is averaging just over 3 goals per game on the road this season. If Arizona can tighten up their defense and contain guys like Sebastian Aho, Martin Necas, and Teuvo Teravainen, they should be able to score some goals tonight. This may end up being a lower scoring game than people think, which usually favors the home team and the team that doesn’t have same elite scorers as the other side. All the pressure is on the road team tonight.