Bryan Power Premium Picks

10* Florida (7:05 ET): Two of this year's slowest starters meet Tuesday in MSG w/ the Rangers hosting the Panthers. The Rangers have dropped six of eight to start the season while Florida has only one win in six games. However, when looking at goal differential, one team appears to have a significant advantage in tonight's contest. The Rangers have been outscored by nine goals in eight games while the Panthers have only been outscored by four in six. The Panthers have had some bad luck w/ three losses occurring either in overtime or a shootout. Every one of their games so far has been decided by a one-goal margin. With an interesting goaltending matchup tonight, I believe the Panthers are poised to break through w/ a major victory. 

After finally winning a game on Friday, the Panthers returned home to play the league's last remaining winless team, Detroit. They lost that game, in overtime, 4-3 on Saturday. This despite having a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period and outshooting the Red Wings 37-31. After that embarrassing defeat, I think Florida will come out "ready to go" tonight. It appears that they will be giving Michael Hutchinson the start in goal. While he's struggled in two previous starts, I don't think the Rangers should be much of a concern considering they only rank 26th in goals per game. 

You would think that the Rangers would go w/ Henrik Lundqvist in this spot, but instead it appears as if the less proven Alexandar Georgiev will get the call between the pipes. Important to note that either way, this play still stands. But if the reports of Georgiev starting are true, then I REALLY like our chances. Georgiev's only previous start saw him surrender seven goals. Florida has won three straight times here in MSG and I look for them to keep that streak alive Tuesday night. 10* Florida 

8* Over Clippers/Pelicans (8:05 ET): I'll look for the NBA's scoring explosion to continue Tuesday night w/ one of the teams most responsible for it. New Orleans has scored 131 and 149 points in two blowout wins. As a result, we have the highest posted total yet for any NBA game this season. They are hosting the Clippers, whose own scoring has increased w/ each passing game. They scored a season-high 115 in an upset win over the Rockets Sunday night. That moved them to 2-1 SU, though all three games were played at home. I'm not about to jump in front of this Pelicans' scoring train, so Over is the play.

The Pelicans wasted no time turning heads as they rocked Houston 131-112 in the season opener. That was in Houston, by the way. New Orleans scored 30 or more points in every quarter and was led by Anthony Davis' 32 points and 16 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic added 30 and the team shot 53% overall. It was even more of an offensive onslaught against Sacramento where they scored 149 pts, the highest scoring effort by any team this season. The Pelicans shot almost 59% in that win, including 16 of 31 from three-point range. All five starters were in double figures, led by Mirotic's 36. But lost in that impressive offensive performance was them allowing 129 points. The Clippers will get theirs too here. 

While this O/U line is high, it's not too much higher than previous Pelicans' totals. The numbers closed north of 230 for both previous games. Now for the Clippers, it is high. Their first two games, against Denver and Oklahoma City, saw them hold the opponent below 38 percent shooting. That certainly is unlikely to happen tonight. In those same two games, the Clippers didn't shoot that well either. As discussed earlier, the Pelicans defense has been such that the Clippers will score plenty in this game. Don't be afraid to bet the Over in this one as it should be a wildly exciting contest. 8* Over Clippers/Pelicans

8* Run Line LA Dodgers (8:09 ET): Please note that this is a run line play only where I am backing the Dodgers at +1.5. Clayton Kershaw getting an additional run and a half to work with, at anything but a totally exorbitant price, is virtually unheard of. So I'll jump on this rare opportunity in Game 1 of the World Series. I've expected the Dodgers to be in this position for some time now. Long ago, I called them the best team in the National League and while it took seven games to dispose of the Brewers, here we are. Boston eliminating Houston, in five games no less, was a tad bit more surprising. What's not surprising is that the Red Sox are making this a battle of lefty aces, sending Chris Sale to the mound. As much as we should fear the Red Sox lineup inside Fenway Park, the Dodgers do benefit from a DH here and Sale's health has become a bit of a concern.

Kershaw has already pitched three times this postseason. He has a 2.50 ERA and 0.833 WHIP and was lights out ttwo wo of the three times. Now the exception did come on the road. That was Game 1 of the NLCS at Milwaukee where he was betrayed by a shocking mistake (HR allowed to a relief pitcher) as well as his defense. But he immediately bounced back by holding the Brewers to one run and three hits (in 7 IP) in Game 5. Perhaps most importantly, he had nine strikeouts. Kershaw's overall resume obviously needs little introduction as he's been one of the top pitchers in baseball for several years now. The Dodgers are 10-1 in his L11 starts w/ that one loss coming by - one run - a result we'd also take in this situation. 

The big news w/ Sale is less about performance and more about health. Over the last week, he's had to battle a stomach illness, which was serious enough to cause an overnight stay at a hospital. There's been some debate over the cause of that illness, but the bottom line is that Sale has thrown only four innings in the last 17 days and just 21 1/3 innings since August 12th. The Dodgers' lineup, which already averages 5.3 rpg on the road, now benefits from the designated hitter. The DH rule will also benefit Kershaw, who doesn't have to worry about hitting. In their last five games at American League parks, the Dodgers went 4-1 and scored eight or more runs three times. They're my call here plus the 1.5 runs. 8* Run Line LA Dodgers (+1.5)

10* Under Troy/South Alabama (8:00 ET): Troy is clearly the better team here, but two things give me pause. One is the performance in their last game. Playing for the 1st time w/o QB Kaleb Barker (out for the year), they lost outright to Liberty and scored only 16 points in doing so. The second is their overall play on the road. While this team did cash for me in an early season upset at Nebraska, they pulled that upset on the back of a key special teams play and Cornhuskers' turnovers. The Trojans' offense, with Barker in at QB, gained only 243 total yards in that contest. The only two subsequent road games were LW's upset loss at Liberty and an eight-point win at LA Monroe. So asking Troy to win by double digits on the road, with a backup QB, seems like a lot. 

South Alabama has only two wins on the season. One came against Texas State, one of the worst teams in all of FBS. The other came last week against a FCS school, Alabama State. That win over Alabama State also marked the first time all season that a South Alabama game stayed Under the total. Playing a FCS program obviously helped as the Jaguars turned in - by far - their best defensive performance of the season, holding their opponent to just 7 points. This is a defense that has already allowed 48 or more points FOUR times this season. But there's a catch. All four times were on the road. The defense has played a little better here in Mobile, holding teams to an average of just 22.7 PPG. That's heavily influenced by last week's result, but the Jaguars get a big break this week in facing a backup QB. 

Last year's "Battle for the Belt" (that's what this rivalry is called) resulted in a huge upset w/ South Alabama winning 19-8 as 16-pt road underdogs. Even I, who had South Alabama, was quite stunned by that result. Keep in mind that the Jaguars were facing a 4-year starting QB in Brandon Silvers and they still held the Troy offense to less than 300 total yards. Now they get to face a backup in Sawyer Smith, who threw for only 135 total yds in the upset loss at Liberty two weeks ago. After the 1st quarter of that game, the Trojans' offense was held to just three field goals and less than 200 total yards. South Alabama's first six games may have all gone Over, but this one has "Under" written all over it. 10* Under Troy/South Alabama