NLL Insider

A little more on tonight’s three games from anonymous sources.

Chicago at New York - 7:30 PM

“Should be a great game. Two second year clubs pretty evenly matched. Great goaltending, on highs. High-tempo teams both well coached with Batley and Mueller. Chicago’s gone to overtime their last two games, and this one could too. The key is basically for both teams to get production out of their top guys… New York’s been getting contributions from five guys in Powell, Maddalena, Hall, Boyle and McLellan – five guys who’ve outscored Chicago’s top scorer. They’ve got more pure offensive talent but Chicago’s won four straight and have received strong production from Derks, Crawford and Jacobs as of late, plus McBride and the Self’s in transition. Roik’s been a rock, but I think if NY doesn’t give up transition opportunities, they win based on offense talent. We’ll see. Should be close.”

Edmonton at Colorado - 9:00 PM

“Is this the real Edmonton team that we saw at the start of the season? Combined to lose 32-13 in two games last weekend. Not pretty. But they’ll be jacked to go. Randy Daly finally got back in the line up and looked good picking up a couple. You can’t expect Stobart to score many more but Quinlan, Hominuck and Prepchuk can still be better for Edmonton. The Mammoth are always great at home; 5-2 this season. Even if Carey can go they’ll probably rest him in this one. Edge has to go to Colorado but the scary thing about them, and not in a good way, is they don’t really have any pure goal scorers. Think Mammoth are overrated and Edmonton’s desperate. Could easily see the Rush steal this home-and-home.”

Portland at San Jose - 10:30 PM

“Portland just gets the ball to Dawson, clears out and let’s him drive. Spencer Martin has been a complete bust on offense and there’s not a lot of other scorers there so that makes it easier to double. SJ will likely try a few match-ups on Dan, including Santos, Martin and Sorensen. At the other end you’ve got Zywicki who’s their go-to-guy, especially with Wiles out. Rookies played well last week for SJ but they’ve been inconsistent… Portland limited the Stealth to just two second-half even-strength goals the last time they meet. Codron will likely get the call on Zywicki. The last few have been close, this one should be too. Expect a Dan Dawson Zywicki show.”

History: Two weekends ago, San Jose won 12-9 (with an empty net goal) then lost a day later to Portland 12-10 (with an empty net goal). Portland won that second game on the road, despite giving San Jose 12 powerplay opportunities. SJ was 4-12 and Portland was 4-8 on powerplays the last time these two met.

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