NHL Predictions – Expert Picks on Sunday, March 23:
Here are tonight’s NHL predictions:
Nashville Predators at St. Louis Blues (-175, 5.5)
6 p.m. ET
After Nashville’s head coach Craig Berube tore a strip off his team following a loss on Thursday to Anaheim, they came back with a 5-2 win over Toronto. It did not look good early on for the Preds, who trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes but then proceeded to score five unanswered goals for the 5-2 win. It’s a quick turnaround for Nashville as they travel to St. Louis to face the Blues for the second time in five days (they meet again on March 27). The Blues have won the two previous meetings this season by scores of 4-1 and 7-4. Both these teams have struggled in the second half of back-to-backs this season. The Blues are 3-6, and Nashville are 4-9. I do like the Blues to win, but I would rather play their Team Total Over 3.5. In addition to scoring four goals in each of the two meetings versus Nashville, the Blues have won five straight and scored four goals or more in each of the wins.
Lots of great prop plays in this game. The Blues’ Dylan Holloway has five assists in the two meetings this season. Jordan Kyrou has 10 goals and 7 assists in his career against the Predators (three goals and one assist this season). Zac Bolduc has goals in back-to-back games for St. Louis. We are still getting him at a good price to score a goal.
On the Nashville side, Luke Evangelista, who is playing on the top line, has four goals in six games against the Blues and two goals in three games against Jordan Binnington. Michael Bunting has four goals in five games against the St. Louis netminder.
NHL Predictions: Blues TT over 3.5 (+135) – 2 units
Zac Bolduc anytime goal (+290) – ¼ unit
Dylan Holloway Over ½ assist (+164) – ¼ unit
Jordan Kyrou anytime goal (+190) – ¼ unit
Jordan Kyrou Over ½ assist (+190) – ¼ unit
Justin Faulk Over ½ assist (+172) – ¼ unit
Luke Evangelista anytime goal (+520) – ¼ unit
Michael Bunting anytime goal (+400) – ¼ unit
Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights (-125, 6)
8 p.m. ET
The marquee game of the day in the NHL as Tampa visits Vegas. Both these teams are on the second half of a back-to-back. Tampa not only rested Andrei Vasilevskiy yesterday, but they also didn’t even have him serve as the backup, instead recalling and starting Brandon Halverson from the minors. Tampa lost yesterday to the Utah Hockey Club, 6-4. The Golden Knights are coming off a 6-3 win over Detroit on Saturday sparked by a Tomas Hertl hat trick. Hertl has scored 14 goals in the Golden Knights’ last 12 home games, and his 20 goals on home ice lead the team. Hertl is still seeking his first career goal (nine games played) against Vasilevsky. With Adin Hill starting Saturday for Vegas, I would expect Ilya Samsonov to get the start tonight. Both Vasilevskiy (3.20 lifetime GAA vs. Vegas) and Samsonov (4.88 GAA vs. Tampa) struggled against the opposing team. Seven of the last eight meetings between the two teams have had a combined seven goals or more.
A couple of player props on my bingo card. Tampa’s Brayden Point has nine goals in 11 games versus the Golden Knights. Nikita Kucherov has five goals in four games against Ilya Samsonov. Luke Glendening has two goals on six shots (4 games) against the Vegas netminder.
On the Vegas side, Mark Stone has nine goals in the 13 games he has faced Vasilevskiy. If you want to have some fun, you could play Stone or maybe Pavel Dorofeyev for at least three goals. A Vegas player has recorded a hat trick in three consecutive home games.
NHL Predictions: Over 6 (-115) – 2 units
Brayden Point anytime goal (+200) – ¼ unit
Nikita Kucherov anytime goal (+194) – ¼ unit
Luke Glendening anytime goal (+1100) – ¼ unit
Mark Stone anytime goal (+280) – ¼ unit
Pavel Dorofeyev anytime goal (+230) – ¼ unit
Mark Stone at least 3 goals (+18000) – .1 units
Pavel Dorofeyev at least 3 goals (+10000) – .1 units
