Scott Rickenbach

NHL Monday 10* Top Play OVER 6.5 in Columbus Blue Jackets vs Vegas Golden Knights @ 7:05 ET - The way I see this one playing out is that Vegas is going to be angry off B2B losses and will be aggressive and score plenty of goals. At the same time, Columbus will respond on home ice as they also are off B2B low-scoring losses. Here the Blue Jackets will take advantage of struggling goaltending as Vegas has seen both their goaltenders struggling recently. The Knights have allowed 3.5 goals per game last 12 games. They are favored big here on the road for a reason though. I am looking for at least a 4-3 type game here if not much more. The Jackets had seen 14 of 17 games total at least 7 goals before these last two have been low-scoring. With their game at Nashville cancelled over the weekend, they will be rested and ready plus will need to skate fast to keep up with this angry Vegas team here. Look for a great pace to this game and plenty of goals as a result of all of the above. 10* OVER 6.5 in Columbus

CBB Monday 10* Top Play Sam Houston State Bearkats +2.5/+3/+3.5 @ Nevada Wolf Pack @ 10 PM ET - This one jumped off the page at me because, of course, most people are going to look and see the bigger school at home and laying a small number and think this is easy money. Not so fast my friend. This one should belong to the surprising Bearkats. They were already expected to be very good in the WAC this season but now are getting extra production from unexpected sources and it has made them even better. In a nutshell, this team is not only good, there are VERY good and deep! They are 6-0 SU on the season and 4-0 ATS in lined games. They play great defense and get a lot of steals and already have wins over Oklahoma and Utah! Those are two Power 5 conference teams and yes the wins were AT Norman, OK and AT Salt Lake City, UT. So going into Reno, NV to knock off Nevada is not asking too much. Now the fact is the Wolf Pack are a quality team and they have a great coach too in Steve Alford, but the Sam Houston State coach Jason Hooten has been with the Bearkats for 12 years and this is a great team he has assembled this season. These guys really believe in themselves and in each other and I do expect an outright win here but, at the very least, we should see a cover if it comes down to a tight finish. Nevada's leading scorer Lucas is struggling with his shooting percentage early this season and their 4th leading scorer Hymes has missed the last few games with back issues and may miss again. Either way, I like this hungry Bearkats team here. 10* SAM HOUSTON STATE +2.5/+3/+3.5

NBA Monday 10* Top Play Philadelphia 76ers +1.5 vs Atlanta Hawks @ 7:10 ET - The 76ers have won 6 of last 8 games. They have been without Embiid lately but might even get him back tonight. Even if they don't the way they are playing now they are loaded with confidence and here they are back at home and facing a Hawks team that is also in a back to back spot for this one. Atlanta has lost B2B games and also is an ugly 2-5 last 7 road games including even losing to the Rockets in Houston! The Sixers are 5-1 last 6 home games and I have a feeling that Embiid was waiting for this home game to return. That would just be an added bonus for us here. Either way, I like Philly and the home team is 2-0 in the two meetings between these teams this season and Trae Young off a rough shooting game last night and now he is on the road after last night's game was at home. 10* PHILADELPHIA +1.5

NFL Monday 10* Top Play Indianapolis Colts Money Line -135 vs Pittsburgh Steelers @ 8:15 ET - With the line choice of -2.5 or grabbing a money line as low as -135, I am going to recommend a rare money line play in a spread sport. The Colts are looking better since the coaching change and lets take a look at the two weeks of action since the move. Indianapolis is now the only team to hand Vegas a non-OT home loss this season and the Colts also just took the Eagles down the wire and very nearly had the huge upset win over a Philly team that is now 10-1 on the season! As for the Steelers, I just can not trust this team on the road. The upset the Bengals at Cincinnati in their season opener but were outgained by a huge margin in that game. Sure enough, in their road games since then, Pittsburgh is 0-4 and lost those 4 games by an average margin of 16.5 points per defeat. The Steelers are simply not a very good football team. The Colts have had issues this season too but a lot of it was turnovers. They have the much better defense in this match-up and their passing offense, though not great, also ranks better than Pittsburgh's. They should enjoy success here as the Steelers pass defense ranks among the worst in the NFL! I know that Watt is now back for Pittsburgh but since he returned, the Steelers faced a horrible Saints team and then gave up a ton of yardage to the Bengals last week. That was also the case in Week 1 when he was on the field for Pittsburgh and they still got scorched statistically by Cincy. Turnovers can be an issue of course but Colts have been working to minimize those and, unless they give this game away via the turnover route, I just do not seem them losing. No interceptions for QB Matt Ryan the past two weeks for Indy and the Steelers Kenny Pickett has thrown at least 1 INT in all 3 road starts and has thrown a total of 5 picks in those 3 games. 10* INDIANAPOLIS -135

World Cup Monday 10* Top Play OVER 2.5 +135 in Portugal vs Uruguay @ 2 ET - Uruguay off that scoreless draw with South Korea but they hit the post twice. There definitely should have been some scoring in that match and this one will make up for it. Portugal is off a wild 3-2 win over Ghana and Uruguay will be even better able to take advantage of defensive deficiencies of Portugal in this one. However, the scoring ability this Portugal team has is going to be a key here. I would like to side with them here but some defensive ineptitude concerns me here and has me forecasting a 2-2 type match in this one! Yes, we finally should see plenty of goals and I know that 19 of the first 28 matches have ended with 2 or less goals. This one will not. Before that 0-0 final, Uruguay had scored an average of 2 goals per match last 9 matches. Portugal has scored an average of 2.24 goals per match last 25 matches. This one will see plenty of scoring as Portugal can lock up advancing to next round by getting the win here. They will be on the attack and this will leave their defense vulnerable again and this time Uruguay finds the back of the net. 10* OVER 2.5 +135 in Portugal

World Cup Monday 10* Top Play OVER 2.5 in Brazil vs Switzerland @ 11 AM ET - Of course Brazil is arguably the favorite to win the World Cup and they are a big favorite in this match including by 1 goal on the goal line for a reason. I am looking for Switzerland to make the net ripple but Brazil to ultimately prevail. Look for a 2-1 final and I am not laying big money line on Brazil of course plus that would be a push on the goal line. To me the best value here is the over. Switzerland has scored at least one goal in 11 of last 14 matches. Brazil has scored at least 1 goal in 9 straight matches and actually averaged 3 goals per match in this 9-match stretch. There have not been many matches to exceed the 2 goal mark in this World Cup so far. In fact, only 9 of 28 matches thus far have totaled at least 3 goals. This one bucks that trend though and the reasons why are above. 10* OVER 2.5 in Brazil