Will Rogers Handicapping Review & Free Picks Page

The Avalanche offense woke up last game. That spells trouble for Dallas tonight. They also solved the Stars goalie, making Oettinger look human. Confidence restored and back on home ice, Colorado will win again and force a 7th game.

Much was made of Valeri Nichushkin's absence from the Colorado lineup. He'd been scoring a lot of goals and is now in the player's assistance program. The Colorado offense was fine without him though. A bigger deal proved to be the absence of the Stars' Roope Hintz. Dallas first-line center was helping play a big part in slowing down the first line of Colorado.

Colorado's Cale Makar said this, after scoring twice in the Game 5 win: "Do-or-die games from here on out in this series. You're playing desperate hockey now. Everybody's got to play on the edge. You've got to fight for every single chance you're getting now (with) it being an elimination game." This series is going back to Dallas!

The Knicks have a 3-2 lead. I've successfully played on both teams in the series and I had the Knicks on Tuesday. The Pacers are a different beast on their home floor and they will make sure they get a chance to play a Game 7.

The Pacers are 3-0 straight up and versus the spread after scoring 100 or less. The Pacers are also 14-5 straight up and versus the spread after a loss of 10 or more points. Homecourt has been the difference in the series. The Pacers won by 32 last game here. They won't let their fans see them eliminated tonight. Lay the points!

Toronto had an off-day on Thursday. Tampa Bay played an extra inning game at Boston. The Blue Jays are 31-20 the past 3 seasons when playing with a day off. Advantage Blue Jays.

The Rays are 6-16 the past 3 seasons, as a road underdog of +125 to +175. Bassitt is off consecutive strong outings. In his last start, the beat the Phillies. Alexander is off a game where he gave up 6 runs and 3 home runs. Bassitt will be better than Alexandr today and the Jays will defeat the Rays. Play on Toronto as my AL East GOM!

Only 1 point separate these clubs in the standings. Fiorentina has the superior goal differential and is in far better shape at this time. Playing at Artemio Franchi in Florence will provide an advantage.

Napoli is riding a five-game winless streak in top-flight action. Its last Serie A match was a 2-0 loss to Bologna. Napoli will be without its star striker, Victor Osimhem for this match. Fiorentina has won 3 of its last 4 Serie A matches, going 2-0 its last 2 at home. They won those 2 home matches by a combined score of 7-2. They beat Napoli 3-1 in the last h2h match and this will result in another victory.