NHL Predictions – Expert Picks on Sunday, March 16:
Here are tonight’s NHL predictions:
Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche (-140, 5.5)
3:30 p.m. ET
Mikko Rantanen returns to Denver for the first time since being traded by the Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes, and in turn, the Hurricanes traded Rantanen to Dallas. Seeing and hearing the fan reaction to the long-term Avalanche star will be interesting. The Stars are three points up on the Avs (with two games in hand) for second place in the Central Division and home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Stars are coming off a 4-1 loss on Friday to Winnipeg and are 16-6 following a loss, while the Avalanche are 6-1 when playing on Sunday this season. The teams have split their two meetings this season, with each team winning on home ice. The Stars have lost two of their last three but have won seven of their last 10 overall. After dropping their first two games coming out of the 4 Nations tournament, Colorado has won seven of their last eight games.
NHL Predictions: Dallas Stars TT over 2.5 (-134) – 2 units
Matt Duchene ATG (+340) – ¼ unit
Mikko Rantanen ATG (+185) – ¼ unit
Arttiri Lehkonen ATG (+240) – ¼ unit
Anaheim Ducks at St. Louis Blues (-175, 5.5)
8 p.m. ET
The St. Louis Blues return home after six games on the road and are in a fight for a wild card spot in the Western Conference. Tonight, they face an Anaheim team that they own a nine-game winning streak against, including winning both contests this season. With Joel Hofer starting and getting the win last night at Minnesota, expect the Blues to turn to Jordan Binnington for tonight. This will be just the third time this season that Binnington will start on the second half of a back-to-back. He is (1-1) in this spot.
Anaheim is fresh off a 2-1 win over Nashville on Friday and is 20-8 this season to the full game Under following a win, but recently, they have gone Over the total in three of their last four games after a victory. Seven of the last nine meetings between the two teams have had a combined six goals or more. The first period Over and the BTTS (both teams to score) have cashed in both meetings this season.
The Ducks Leo Carlsson has five goals and 15 points in his last 15 games and does have a pair of goals against Jordan Binnington. The Blues Robert Thomas has five goals in four games against Ducks starting goalie, Lukas Dostal, Zack Bolduc has two goals and four points in two games versus the Ducks.
NHL Predictions: 1st period Over 1.5 (-120) – 1unit
1st period BTTS (+166) – 1 unit
Over 5.5 (-120) – 1 unit
Robert Thomas ATG (+210) – ¼ unit
Zach Bolduc ATG (+380) – ¼ unit
Cam Fowler ATG (+550) – ¼ unit
Cam Fowler Over 1.5 points (+680) – ¼ unit
Leo Carlsson Over ½ point (+127) – ¼ unit
