NHL Predictions – Expert Picks on Wednesday, April 2:
Here are tonight’s NHL predictions:
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes (-190, 5.5)
7 p.m. ET
Lenovo Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina is the next stop on Alexander Ovechkin’s pursuit to become the NHL’s all-time goal leader. With his goal last night in Boston against the Bruins, Ovi is three away from tying Gretzky and four goals shy of breaking the record (894 goals). Three times this season, Ovechkin has scored a goal on the front end of back-to-back games, and all three times, he has scored a goal on the back end. He has also had a run of goals in four consecutive games (twice) and five consecutive games (once).
For his career, the Great 8 scored 51 goals in 91 games against the Hurricanes. As always, I like to isolate his numbers against the team’s current goalies. Ovechkin has nine goals in 12 games against Freddie Andersen and four goals in five games against Pyotr Kochetkov.
With Charlie Lindgren starting last night against the Bruins, it should be Logan Thompson in goal for the Capitals. The first period Over (1.5 goals) has cashed in Thompson’s last eight starts and six of his last eight starts have had a combined six goals or more.
NHL Predictions: Alex Ovechkin anytime goal (+145) – ¼ unit
Alex Ovechkin last goal (+1000) – ¼ unit
Alex Ovechkin 3rd period goal (+500) – ¼ unit
1st period Over 1.5 goals (-122) – 1 unit
Aliaksei Protas Over ½ point +162 – ¼ unit
Taylor Hall anytime goal +210 – ¼ unit
Jackson Blake Over ½ assist +190 -1/4 unit
Colorado Avalanche (-400, 6.5) at Chicago Blackhawks
9:30 p.m. ET
The Avalanche opened as a (-320) road favorite, and we are seeing this number climb to (-400). Colorado has dropped back-to-back games and have scored just three goals in the two losses. Chicago has won two of three meetings this season and the teams have split three of the last six games overall. The one trend that caught my eye is that the last five wins by Colorado in this series have all been by a shutout (3-0, 5-0, 5-0,4-0 and 5-0). Eight of the last 10 meetings have gone Under the total. There are also some interesting trends this season with teams favored (-300+) and even more eye-opening when the favorite hits (-400) and above. This season, Colorado is (4-2) when as a betting favorite of (-300+) and (2-0) when they are (-400+). In Colorado’s six games this season when favored (-300+), the Over and first period both teams to score are (4-2). League-wide this season, with a favorite of (-400+), the underdog has scored in the first period 16 times in the 21 games.
The Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato has six goals in his last four games and has scored three goals in five games against Colorado starting goalie, MacKenzie Blackwood.
NHL Predictions: 1st period BTTS +142 – ½ unit
Chicago Blackhawks 1st period Over ½ goal (-122) – ½ unit
1st period Over 1.5 goals (-160) – ½ unit
Ryan Donato anytime goal +210 – ¼ unit
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks (-150, 5.5)
10:30 p.m. ET
Tonight is the fourth and final meeting between these Pacific Division and border rivals, and the three previous meetings have all flown Over the total of 5.5 goals (9.7,9 combined goals). In fact, all 14 meetings between the two teams have had a combined six or more goals. Vancouver is on a 9-2 run to the full game Over. The Kraken, who are coming off back-to-back losses to the Dallas Stars, have been one of the best Over teams in their next game following a loss. Twenty-one of the last 29 Kraken games following a loss have had a combined six goals or more.
NHL Predictions: Over 5.5 (-120) – 3 units
