NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
Here are today’s NHL predictions and best bets.
Ottawa Senators (12-9-4) at Montreal Canadiens (13-8-3)
Betting Line: Senators (-115) at Canadiens (-115) – Total 6 (Over, -120)
7 p.m. ET
The Senators and Canadiens are both coming off blowout losses. Ottawa lost 6-1 at Dallas, and the Canadiens became victim 18 of the Colorado Avalanche, throttled 7-2. This will be the second of four meetings between the teams. Montreal defeated Ottawa 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 1. It was the eighth time in the last 10 meetings that the teams combined to go Over the posted total. The first-period (Over 1.5 goals) has also cashed in eight consecutive meetings between the teams and nine of the last 10. The Habs are currently on a 14-2 run to the full-game Over.
Let’s discuss player props. Ottawa’s Drake Batherson has 28 points in 29 games against the Canadiens and five goals in the eight games that he has gone head-to-head against Montreal goalie Samuel Montembeault. Brady Tkachuk has 27 points in 30 career games against the Canadiens and assists in six of his last nine games against the Habs. Dylan Cozens centers Ottawa’s second line and plays on the top power play and has great value at +125 to pick up a point tonight. Montreal’s Cole Caufield has 11 goals in 15 games versus the Senators and five goals in the eight games that he has gone head-to-head against goalie Linus Ullmark.
NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
First-period Over 1.5 (-135) – .50 units
Ottawa Senators/Montreal Canadiens Over 6 (-120) – .50 units
Dylan Cozens Over ½ point (+125) – .25 units
Brady Tkachuk Over ½ assist (+230) – .25 units
Drake Batherson anytime goal (+275) – .15 units
Jake Sanderson/Drake Batherson point parlay (+157) – .15 units
Cole Caufield anytime goal (+155) – .15 units
Lane Hutson/Cole Caufield point parlay (+118) – .20 units
Boston Bruins (15-12-0) at Detroit Red Wings (13-11-2)
Betting Line: Bruins (+165) at Red Wings (-180) – Total 5.5 (Over, -125)
7 p.m. ET
These teams are meeting for the second time in four days. The Bruins were on the right side of a 3-2 shootout win on Saturday night. The B’s are still without David Pastrnak, but Viktor Arvidsson returns to the lineup after being out the last two weeks with an injury. Center Elias Lindholm has had back-to-back multi-point games since returning to the lineup and has eight goals in 12 games against Wings starting goalie John Gibson. But when it comes to goals and scoring the first goal for their respective teams, the Bruins’ Morgan Geekie leads the NHL scoring his team’s first goal — nine times, including the first goal in six of Boston’s last nine road games. Fast starts have been problematic for Detroit, which is 0-6-10 in its last 16 games after 20 minutes and 3-10-13 for the season. The Bruins are only marginally better at 2-6-8 over their past 16 and 4-9-14 for the season.
NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
Morgan Geekie anytime goal (+190) – .25 units
Morgan Geekie first Boston goal (+390) – .05
Boston Bruins first-period ML (+140) – .25
First-period draw (+175) – .25
Tampa Bay Lightning (16-7-2) at NY Islanders (13-10-3)
Betting Line: Lightning (-140) at Islanders (+120) – Total 5.5 (Over, -125)
7 p.m. ET
This game is all about player props and it starts with the Lightning’s Brandon Hagel, who has scored Tampa’s first goal six times this season. Hagel has eight goals in his last five games and 15 goals in the past 16 games after starting the season with no goals in the first eight games. Hagel has also cashed his shots-on-goal prop (Over 2.5) in six straight, eight of 10 and 16 of the last 20 games.
Nikita Kucherov has goals in two of his last three and six of his last eight games against the Islanders. He has six goals in 10 games versus Islanders starting goalie Ilya Sorokin. Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh has an assist in seven of his last eight games and has an assist in four of six games against the Islanders. Jake Guentzel has scored nine goals in 15 games against Sorokin.
NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
Brandon Hagel anytime goal (+165) – .15 units
Brandon Hagel – 1st Tampa goal (+550) – .05 units
Brandon Hagel Over 2.5 SOG (-125) – 1 unit
Darren Raddysh Over ½ assist (+125) – .25 units
Nikita Kucherov anytime goal (+160) – .15 units
Jake Guentzel anytime goal (+155) – .15 units
Minnesota Wild (14-7-5) at Edmonton Oilers (11-10-5)
Betting Line: Wild (+130) at Oilers (-150) – Total 6.5 (Under, -130)
9 p.m. ET
The Minnesota Wild have been one of the NHL’s hottest teams, winning 11 of their past 14 games (11-1-2). They take on an Oilers team that Minnesota has beaten in 11 of the last 15 meetings, including five of the last seven games in Oil country. Jesper Wallstedt, who has been dubbed “The Wall of St. Paul,” gets the start tonight for the Wild. Wallstedt has a league-best three shutouts to go along with his 1.93 goals-against average and .938 save percentage. He has yet to lose in regulation this season (7-0-2).
The Oilers have been off since Saturday when they blanked the Seattle Kraken 4-0 in a game that saw Ryan Nugent-Hopkins return to action and Zach Hyman score his first goal of the season.
I am going to lay off both the side and total and stick with a couple of player props. Minnesota’s Matt Boldy has had a knack for getting the Wild started this season as well as scoring the first goal of the game against the Oilers. Boldy has scored the first goal in four of the last five and five of the last seven meetings between the teams. He has seven goals in 10 career games against the Oilers and six goals in seven games against the Oilers’ current goalie tandem of Stuart Skinner (3 goals, 4 games) and Calvin Pickard (3 goals, 3 games). This season, the Minnesota forward has scored the Wild’s first goal eight times and their first goal on the road in four of the last seven games.
Kirill Kaprizov is on a five-game goal streak (6 goals) but has just one goal in 11 games against the Oilers. He does have 13 assists in those 11 games. Minnesota injuries up front have Ryan Hartman on the top line. There is tremendous value on Hartman to earn an assist tonight at +220. He has 17 points in 21 games versus Edmonton. In trying to extract some value on the Oilers side, Nugent-Hopkins has 32 points in 39 games versus the Wild. Evan Bouchard has 10 points in 12 games and Leon Draisaitl has picked up an assist in seven straight games. Draisaitl also has 16 goals in 26 games against the Wild.
NHL Predictions and Best Bets:
Matt Boldy first Minnesota goal (+500) – .10 units
Matt Boldy anytime goal (+160) – .25 units
Kirill Kaprizov Over ½ assist (+112) – .25 units
Ryan Hartman Over ½ assist (+220) – .10 units
Leon Draisaitl anytime goal (+115) – .10 units
Leon Draisaitl assist/Ryan Nugent-Hopkins point/Evan Bouchard point (+224) – .20 units
