#5/6 ASA PLAY ON 8* OVER 6 or 6.5 Goals - Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals, Thursday at 7 PM ET - The Penguins top goalie, Jarry, is out.  They are susceptible to allowing a lot of goals here and the Capitals will be amped because they lost 4-1 on home ice to the Pens early this season.  Of course Ovechkin and the Caps are almost always excited to face Crosby and the Penguins.  It is really amazing that in this day and age both Crosby and Ovechkin have been in the league since the 2005-06 season and both have remained with their same teams each in great careers that are approaching the 20-year mark!  The fact is that this should be another highly entertaining battle with a lot of goals.  The Penguins are off a wild 7-6 OT thriller over Florida as they struggled without Jarry in the crease but did score plenty as is so typical for this team.  Capitals take advantage of the Pens goalie situation here but the Caps again struggle to slow down a talented Pens group that also got a boost with Letang coming back in most recent game.  Look for at least 7 in this one!  Over is our play here.

ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* PHOENIX SUNS -120 vs Dallas Mavericks, 10 PM ET - Current early line is -1.5 but the money line is available at -120 so that is the recommended value option here. We like the hot Suns here at home as they have won 4 straight games and are figuring out rotations around their injured players. Dallas is struggling right now with just 2 wins in their last eight games and have lost 2 in a row. The Mavs have not been good on the road this season with a 8-15 SU record and a negative differential of minus -4.5PPG. Even with their injuries the Suns are still 18-7 SU at home this season and plus +6PPG. The Mavs have the more efficient offense on the season ranking 5th compared to the Phoenix who ranks 14th. Defensively though it’s not as close with the Suns ranking 10th in DEFF compared to the Mavs who rank 26th or near the bottom of the league. In their last five games the Suns defense is allowing just 1.084-points per possession which is best in the NBA over that span of games. The home team has won both meetings this season and 8 of the last nine between these two teams. We like Phoenix at home in this one.

#754 ASA TOP PLAY ON Western Illinois -5 over South Dakota, Thursday at 7 PM ET - Revenger for WIU here who played their worst conference game this season @ South Dakota which was a 17 point loss. In that first meeting at the end of December WIU made only 39% of their overall shots and just 17% from beyond the arc. That is well below their season averages of 46% and 32% respectively. Since that loss, Western Illinois has played their best ball of the year with a 4-2 record. South Dakota, on the other hand, is 2-3 since that win. The Coyotes are just 4-4 Summit League play despite facing the easiest conference schedule thus far. They are 1-2 on the road in conference play with their only win coming by 2 points @ North Dakota who is the 2nd worst team in the Summit League. South Dakota is just 1-6 SU on the road this season losing by an average of 17 PPG while averaging only 55 PPG. Western Illinois is 9-2 at home on the year winning by an average of 13 PPG while averaging 82 PPG on offense. South Dakota is coming off a 3 game home stand in which they won only 1 game vs Nebraska Omaha, the lowest rated team in the Summit. WIU has won 4 of their last 5 with their only loss during that stretch coming vs Oral Roberts who is by far the best team in the conference (only top 100 team in the league). South Dakota has scored 62, 61, and 45 points in their 3 conference road games while WIU has topped 70 points in 4 of their 5 home games. We like the revenge angle and we don’t think South Dakota can keep up offensively in this game. Lay the points.