NHL Predictions – Saturday, October 26:
A busy Saturday card with 14 games on the schedule. I have predictions in six of the games. We have some live dogs and system plays that have been cashing at a minimum 70% success rate. Here are my NHL predictions for Saturday. Enjoy the day, and let’s make some money.
Minnesota Wild (-135; 6) at Philadelphia Flyers
1:00 p.m. ET
The Winnipeg Jets remain the last team without a loss to start the season. The Minnesota Wild are the only other team yet to lose in regulation. The Wild come into today’s game at Philadelphia riding a four-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents 16-5. Minnesota is coming off wins against the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Florida Panthers, followed by Thursday’s win at Tampa. The win over Tampa marked the first time the Wild trailed (2-1) in a game this season before rallying for a 4-2 victory. Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, an early MVP candidate, leads the Wild in scoring with 13 points and has five multi-point games.
Since winning their opening game of the season, the Flyers have lost six straight, with five losses by two or more goals. So why did the Wild open as a short (-130) road favorite? From my perspective, this is a classic spot for a letdown game against a struggling Flyers team. For what it’s worth, the Flyers won all three meetings versus Minnesota last season, and the Over cashed in all three as well (7, 8, and 9 combined goals). The Wild’s Matt Boldy has scored goals in back-to-back games and has six goals in five career games against Philly.
NHL Predictions: Philadelphia Flyers ML + 114 – 1 unit
Minnesota/Philadelphia Over 6 +100 – 1 unit
Matt Boldy anytime goal +180 – 1 unit
Washington Capitals at Tampa Bay Lightning (-175; 6)
7:00 p.m. ET
Since losing their opening game to the New Jersey Devils, the Washington Capitals have reeled off five straight wins, while Tampa has lost three of their last four. After giving up just one goal in each of his first two starts, Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has been touched up 15 goals in his last four starts.
Even with Washington on a heater and Tampa going through a bit of a rough patch, the Lightning opened as a (-165) home favorite. As I write this at 11 a.m. ET, the line continues to move to Tampa as they are now a (-175) favorite. Tampa was getting 69% of the bets but just 56% of the money.
Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov continues to torch the opposition. Kucherov (eight goals, five assists) is just two points behind scoring leader Cale Makar and has points in all seven games. He scored a goal in five of the seven games and has 14 goals in 28 career games against the Caps.
The Lightning have scored four goals or more in all four of their wins this season. “Four Score” is what I will continue to target when projecting a Tampa victory. Over the past two seasons, the Lightning have scored four goals or more in 76 of their 91 victories (84%).
If the Tampa Bay Lightning line continues to climb in the -175 to -199 range, I would advise on a Lightning ML play (1 unit) and/or a playing Tampa on the Puck Line. Favorites in this spot are 11-6, with 10 of the 11 wins covering the (-1.5 goals). Nashville’s 3-2 at Chicago was the first time one of these favorites failed to win by two or more goals.
NHL Predictions: Tampa TT over 3.5 (-110) – 2 units
Nikita Kucherov anytime goal +100 – 1 unit
Anaheim Ducks at NY Rangers (-305, 6)
7:00 p.m. ET
The Rangers (5-1-1) are coming off a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Florida Panthers on Thursday. It was the Blueshirts’ first regulation loss and just their second loss of the season. I would expect Igor Shesterkin to get the night off and Jonathan Quick to get the start tonight versus the Ducks. In 53 career games against Anaheim, Quick has a 2.36 GAA and .912 save percentage.
Anaheim has earned seven of a possible 12 points to start the season, with two of their three wins coming against the winless San Jose Sharks and an overtime win in their home opener against the Utah HC. In their three losses to the Golden Knights, Avalanche, and Kings, they have been outscored 11-5.
The Ducks have lost six of seven and eight of the last 10 to the Rangers. New York has scored four or more goals in the last six wins versus Anaheim and four or more goals in all five of their wins to start the 2024-25 season. Four continues to be the Rangers’ magic number in their victories. In the previous two seasons, the Rangers scored four or more goals in 72 of their 102 wins (71%).
NHL Predictions: Race to 4 goals (-110) or Rangers TT over 3.5 (-155) – 2 units
Note: If Race to 4 goals is available at your betting site, that would be option 1.
Alexis Lafreniere Over ½ point (-154) – 1 unit
Adam Fox Over ½ point (-160) – 1 unit
Carolina Hurricanes (-175, 6) at Seattle Kraken
10:00 p.m. ET
The Hurricanes are coming off back-to-back wins over the Oilers and Flames and have won four of their last five games. The Canes continue to grind teams down, as they have given up two goals or less in all four of their wins.
The Kraken came up just short of handing the Winnipeg Jets their first loss of the season on Thursday night. Seattle rallied late to get the game to overtime before falling 4-3 to the Jets. Matty Beniers scored his first two goals of the season, including the tying goal with under four minutes to play in regulation.
This game opened with Carolina as a (-145) road favorite and both the pros and joes are all over Carolina. The Hurricanes are getting 78% of the bets and 92% of the money, driving the line to (-175). As I referenced in the Washington/Tampa preview, that is a betting favorite “sweet spot.”
NHL Predictions: Carolina ML (-175) – 1 unit
Carolina PL (+165) – ½ unit
Pittsburgh Penguins at Vancouver Canucks (-200, 6.5)
10:00 p.m. ET
Just one play in this game, and it’s based on a trend that I saw posted by Ian Cameron (@bobanobets on X). Teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight, who are coming off a game where they have been shut out (last night by Edmonton, 4-0), have seen the first-period total cash to the Over the following game. The trend is currently on a 12-1 run.
NHL Prediction: Penguins/Canucks 1st period Over 1.5 goals (-150) – 1 unit
San Jose Sharks at Vegas Golden Knights (-360; 6)
10:00 p.m. ET
The Golden Knights offense is in high gear, scoring six goals in back-to-back games with wins over the LA Kings and Ottawa Senators. Tonight, they get a San Jose Sharks team in search of their first victory of the season (0-8). I witnessed the Sharks live on Thursday in Los Angeles, and they are not a good hockey team. The Sharks have scored two goals or less in six of their eight losses and are in danger of matching last season’s 0-11 start.
Offense was a concern for the Golden Knights heading into the season, but they have put that to rest for the moment. The Knights are averaging 4.38 goals per game, which is the third-best in the NHL. Vegas is 6-1-1 to the Over for the full game, and they have cashed the first-period Over in seven of their eight games.
I am staying away from playing the side or the Vegas team total Over 3.5 goals. There is no value in playing Vegas (-360) for the full game, and I am not interested in laying (-210) to win in regulation when there is better value in the two plays I have on the first period and full game going Over their respective numbers.
NHL Predictions: Sharks/Golden Knights 1st period Over 1.5 goals (-130) – 1 unit
Sharks/Golden Knights Over 6 (-110) – 1 unit
