Sports Handicapper Scott Rickenbach's Picks & Predictions

OVER 6.5 in Ariz vs Colo - Both teams have had some recent lower-scoring games but both are winning too. Confidence running high right now for both these clubs and the Coyotes have scored 10 goals in their last 3 games. The Avalanche have won 7 of 8 games and averaged 5 goals per game in the 7 victories. The Avs have seen 8 of last 12 games total at least 7 goals. The Coyotes most recent home game was a low-scoring win but this followed a stretch in which 5 of last 7 games totaled at least 7 goals and those games actually averaged 8 goals apiece. This is a small but special venue that the Coyotes are currently playing in down in Arizona and the atmosphere lends itself to some crazy games at Mullett Arena with a raucous crowd. More of the same expected here with a nearby foe in town. OVER 6.5 in Arizona

VANCOUVER - The Canucks have been great on home ice all season long and here they catch a slumping Golden Knights team. Vegas has lost 8 of 11 games and I know some of the defeats were tight too but the losing is taking a toll and no let up is in sight. They are off a high-scoring loss at Edmonton but they were fortunate to even get that game to OT as they had to rally to do so. The trouble too is that, before that game, they only scored 7 goals in their last 7 losses. All is not well in Vegas right now and, now wrapping up a long road trip, the Golden Knights are not likely to see things get better until their home ice match-up this weekend. This is just a typical scenario here where it is so hard to pull it together on the road when 7 of your last 8 games have been on the road and you just can't get any consistency going. Being the defending champs plus the fact this is a divisional game, you know the Canucks want to take down the champs here. VANCOUVER -120

DALLAS - The road team has won both meetings this season and the Stars lost at home to the Flames 7-4 last week so this is a shot at right back revenge. Calgary off the huge upset win over Vegas. Not only are they just 2-6 this season when off a win, the Flames just knocked off the defending champs so the set up here is great. DALLAS -130

Rotation #752: CBB Sunday 10* Top Play Illinois-Chicago Flames (-) vs Illinois State Redbirds @ 8 ET - As I mentioned in Sunday's write-up on UIC - an underdog cover as they lost by just one point - the Flames have been developing well in recent years. They are well-coached and now the coach has been able to assemble the type of roster he wants here. It has been a process for sure but this Flames team looks stronger this season than they have been in a long time. Now Illinois-Chicago is 5-2 on the season and with Illinois State, this is not the right kind of team roster to take advantage of the Flames guard-heavy style. This is an MVC opener for these teams and the Flames will fare well in this match-up. I like laying a very reasonable number of points in this one with a team that is undefeated at home and hosting a team that has lost 3 in a row in games played away from home. Note that UIC is hitting 48% from the field this season and the Redbirds are hitting just 39% from the field. Also, the Flames are averaging much higher blocked shots numbers. This is no surprise as, in this match-up too, UIC has some height and length edges in guard play as well. Illinois-Chicago lost the most recent meeting between these teams in a game played at Illinois State and that was in OT last season. This will be payback at home and they bounce back from a 1-point loss. Keep in mind the Flames only other loss this season was to Cincinnati! Lay it! Illinois-Chicago (+)

NBA Thursday 10* Top Play Golden State Warriors -5 vs Los Angeles Clippers @ 10:10 ET - Last night the Clippers caught the Kings off a dramatic huge-deficit come from behind victory the night before. LA took advantage and got the win at Sacramento but the situation was a good one for the Clips and a horrible one for the Kings plus LA hit 14 of 28 three-points in the game! They will not do that again tonight. Now it is the Clippers that are in a B2B situation and they are facing the very team (Warriors) that had blown a massive lead in a gut-wrenching loss at Sacramento! That said, Golden State is rested and ready and angry and this is a very reasonable line to lay here. I would not be surprised to see Leonard and Harden be less effective in the 2nd game of a B2B plus Powell got hurt last night and will not play here. Yes I am aware of the Chris Paul injury for the Warriors but the rest of the team in good shape entering this one and now Draymond Green is back from his suspension too. The Warriors are ready to go tonight and I am expecting them to have one of their best games of the season thus far in this one. They led by as many as 24 points in that loss at Sacramento and did lead by 17 at the half. GSW can not wait to get back on the floor. 10* GOLDEN STATE -5

NFL Thursday 10* Top Play Seattle Seahawks (+) @ Dallas Cowboys @ 8:15 ET - The current number as of early game day morning is 9.5 or 9 in most books. I was hoping we might see 10 points popping up but, either way, based on this current line we are essentially challenging the Cowboys to win this game by double digits. I love this spot as a spot to fade Dallas. They are off a big home win but when you look close at what the Cowboys have done this season, it has been a typical Dallas season. They beat up on bad teams (other than when they fell short at Arizona) and they lose to stronger teams (Niners, Eagles). Now I am certainly not saying the Seahawks are in the category of a San Fran or Philly. But I they do have a winning record this season and were 6-3 before suffering B2B tough losses. The Cowboys are 8-3 this season and taking away the two games against the only two teams they have faced that currently have a winning record, the other 8 teams they have faced have a combined record of 26-55 this season! So the Cowboys 8 wins (including twice beating Giants) plus the lone loss to a bad team (Arizona) means that Dallas is 8-1 against teams with a losing record. Those teams current combined losing record is 26-55. Seattle is not SF or Philly but they also are better than all the teams that Dallas has made a living feasting off of this season. This is going to be a much tougher game than most are expecting. Carroll will have his team ready on the road coming off B2B losses and to top it off, the Cowboys have Philly on deck! This is a huge lookahead situation because Eagles are playing SF this week. Dallas knows that Philly could lose that game which means if the Cowboys win this plus beat Philly next week then both teams would be 10-3 and tied at the top of the NFC East! Trust me Dallas has this in their head too and all this in their head means this "cakewalk game" turns into a "lookahead situation" and traditionally these are the types of games Dallas struggles in. Seattle has beaten Detroit and Cleveland this season and those two teams have a combined 15-7 record this season. The Seahawks are 11-2 ATS when they face a non-divisional opponent that has a winning record. Also, coach Carroll's teams have produced a 20-5 ATS record when entering a game off B2B SU losses and this their first losing streak of the season! Even with the big win over Washington on Thanksgiving, the Cowboys are still just 2-9 ATS as a home favorite in Thursday games. Seahawks bounce back here and might even pull off the shocker. Grab the big points. 10* SEATTLE (+)

Rotation #224485: Europa League | Group Stage: Thursday 10* Top Play OVER 3.5 -110 in Liverpool vs LASK Linz @ 3 ET - LASK Linz has to go for it here and so I am expecting an aggressive attacking style from the visitors in this one. They have no choice if they want to stay alive in this competition. That should open this up to plenty of goals as Liverpool is favored by 2.5 goals on the goal line and it is a justified number. Considering the aggressive approach LASK Linz must take plus the fact that the Reds have some issues on the back line I do not expect a clean sheet here. That said, the big dog visitors make the net ripple at least once. The final score likely in the 4-1 range or at least 3-1. Liverpool lost their most recent match in this competition 3-2 at Toulouse so the Reds come out hungry and aggressive here and should be relentless. This is particularly true after the 1-1 draw with Manchester City over the weekend. The reverse fixture between these clubs was 3-1 and LASK Linz had scored 3 goals in 3 straight matches before splitting their last two matches in low-scoring affairs. The high-scoring ways resume here. 10* OVER 3.5 -110 in Liverpool 

Rotation #224461: Europa League | Group Stage: Thursday 10* Top Play OVER 3.5 +115 in Backa Topola vs West Ham United @ 12:45 ET - A victory here in Serbia on Thursday will guarantee a place for West Ham in the Europa League knockout rounds. They are favored by 1.5 goals with heavy juice for a reason. I do look for the Hammers to come up with a strong effort but Backa Topola on home soil for this one and coming off a win over the weekend that is a confidence boost as well. The lost the reverse fixture 3-1 and a similar result is likely here. Yes, this total is a big one but each of Backa Topola's last 5 matches in continental action like Europa League and Champions League Qualifying have all totaled at least 4 goals. That means this spot is testing a 5-0 run! Not only that, the Hammers are off a 2-1 win and 5 of last 8 matches across all competitions had totaled at least 4 goals. We'll see goals here! 10* OVER 3.5 +115 in Backa Topola