Hockey betting saw it’s most popular team burn those who bet on hockey with them opening weekend as the Detroit Red Wings were swept in Europe by St. Louis. Hockey has long seen Detroit serve as the most popular team that the general public will bet on hockey with but that status may end for 2009-10.
Detroit lost their hockey betting opener to the Blues 3-4 as they blew a 3-1 second period lead to frustrate those who bet on hockey with them. The Red Wings had a 34-23 hockey betting shot advantage but goaltender Chris Osgood again added to the many skeptics that bet on hockey who believe that he is past his prime. Osgood allowed 4 goals for a poor start to the hockey betting season.
The hockey betting rematch between the teams went even worse as the Blues scored a 5-3 win. The Red Wings jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead but again frustrated their hockey betting backers as goaltender Jimmy Howard had a poor debut as he allowed 5 goals on 32 shots. St. Louis goaltender Ty Conklin, who played for Detroit last year, got sweet hockey betting revenge against the team that let him go as the stopped 29 out of 32 Detroit shots to show up his former team and its management who preferred Howard as the backup to Osgood.
Head coach Mike Babcock believed that the Red Wings were outworked in the two hockey betting matchup and said that the second game should have been Detroit’s. The Red Wings penalty killing, which was ranked only 25th in the 2008-09 season, was again weak against St. Louis as the Blues went 4-9 in the two games.
The poor performance by Howard concerns Babcock and hockey betting experts as Osgood cannot carry an overwhelming workload. Babcock has stated that the backup goaltender must produce 25 wins this season.
The Red Wings are becoming one of the oldest teams in hockey betting. As the rest of the western conference improves they look like a team that could be an overlay on the board early this year.