NHL Predictions – Expert Picks on Wednesday, December 4:
Tuesday was an incredible night of hockey. Six of the 10 games were decided by one goal, and four went to overtime. The Avalanche erased a 4-0 deficit and beat the Sabres 5-4, and down 4-1 in the third, the Panthers battled back to force overtime before losing 5-4 to Pittsburgh. And the night ended with one of the best 1-0 games you will ever see, as Vegas hung on to beat Edmonton. Tonight, we have four games on the card, and I believe we have two live dogs. Enjoy your night of hockey. Here are tonight’s NHL predictions.
Boston Bruins (-150, 5.5) at Chicago Blackhawks
7:30 p.m. ET
After just eight wins in their first 20 games to start the season (which led to the firing of head coach, Jim Montgomery), the Boston Bruins have returned to their winning ways with five wins in seven games under interim head coach Joe Sacco. The Bruins rallied from 2-1 down in the third period to tie the game, and Pavel Zacha’s goal 2:15 into overtime gave the B’s a 3-2 win.
There’s little time to enjoy the victory as 24 hours later, Boston travels to Chicago to face a rested Blackhawks team. It’s not only games on consecutive nights for the Bruins, but three games in four days and six games in nine days. It makes you wonder whether Boston players will have tired legs. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy played just under 28 minutes (27:45) last night, and forward David Pastrnak logged 22:07 of ice time. Jeremy Swayman had the night off in Detroit and should get the start in goal tonight for the Bruins. He is a perfect 3-0 in his career against the Blackhawks with a miniscule 1.33 GAA, a .939 save percentage and a shutout to go along with the three wins.
It’s been tough sledding for the Blackhawks this season as they sit at the very bottom of the league standings, 32nd in points out of 32 teams. Chicago has lost three straight games and seven of their last 10, but their three wins (all on home ice) are against three of the top nine teams in the NHL. The Hawks have victories over Minnesota, Dallas and Florida in and around these seven losses. Tonight, they will need to find a way to beat Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman for the first time. The Bruins are going to have to find a way to not only beat a team that has shown it can defeat some of the league’s best but they will also have to overcome the schedulemaker that has put them in a tough spot. I like the home team tonight for the first of my NHL predictions.
NHL Predictions: Chicago Blackhawks ML (+125) – 1 unit
Dallas Stars (-115, 5.5) at Los Angeles Kings
10:00 p.m. ET
A battle tonight between two teams on three-game win streaks as the Dallas Stars visit Crypto.com Arena to take on the Los Angeles Kings. Yours truly will be in the building to take this one in. Dallas will try to match its longest win streak of the season when they won their first four games. It will be tough playing a Kings team that has given up two goals or less in six straight home games and six of seven overall. Eight of the last 10 meetings between these two teams have gone Under the total. Dallas has won four straight and eight of the last 10 meetings versus LA. The Kings have been limited to just one goal in each of the last three meetings and were blanked in the other.
The Stars Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov have enjoyed success against tonight’s Kings starting goalie, David Rittich. Benn has four goals in six games vs. Rittich, while Dadonov has six goals in eight games.
Earlier today, the Stars received some bad news on the injury front. Forward Tyler Seguin, third on the team in scoring, will require hip surgery and he’ll be sidelined for the next four to six months. The line of Seguin, Mason Marchment and Matt Duchene are currently leading the team in scoring. Rookie Logan Stankoven will slot into Seguin’s spot.
At some point, I am going to have to acknowledge that the LA Kings are better than I have been giving them credit for, but I am not there just yet. The Kings’ current three-game win streak has them in second place in the Pacific Division, four points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and having played one fewer game. Los Angeles has outscored their opponents 11-4 over the course of the three-game win streak and have bounced back mightily after losing to the Sharks 7-2 just eight days ago. I still can’t get past LA losing twice to San Jose and once to Chicago in a 28-day span. But at the same time, they have wins this season over Vegas, Minnesota and Winnipeg.
NHL Predictions: Dallas ML (-115) – 1 unit
Stars/Kings Under 5.5 (+100)
Evgenii Dadonov anytime goal (+425) – ¼ unit
Jamie Benn anytime goal (+350) – ¼ unit
Vegas Golden Knights (-170, 6.5) at Anaheim Ducks
10:00 p.m. ET
If you missed last night’s Vegas/Edmonton game, you deprived yourself of one of the best games of the season. It was just the fifth time in league history a game that featured one goal or fewer did not have a penalty. It was the 11th time the Golden Knights had been involved in a 1-0 game (stat courtesy: @SinBin.vegas) and they have been victorious in eight of them. Now they must pick themselves up, get on a short plane ride, and face a Ducks team that, while they have already beaten them twice this season, it has been far from easy—a 3-1 win on home ice in a game that was tied 1-1 going to the third period and a 3-2 win at Honda Center in Anaheim a month later. The win in Anaheim in November snapped a three-game losing streak to the Ducks in their building. Seven of the last nine meetings between the two teams have gone Under the total.
It’s not only games on back-to-back days for Vegas but also the potential of a letdown from such an emotional game last night, playing an inferior opponent tonight in Anaheim. With games against Dallas, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Minnesota to follow, I like Anaheim in this spot.
This will be the fourth time this season Vegas will be playing games on consecutive nights. They are 2-1 but have given up 3+ goals in two of the three games. The Ducks have scored three or more goals versus Vegas in three of the last five meetings. Ilya Samsonov gets the start tonight and will look for a bounce back after a less-than-stellar performance in the 6-0 drubbing to Utah HC on Saturday. Samsonov was actually very good, despite giving up four goals to the Flyers in a game Vegas rallied and won in a shootout, 5-4. In six of his last eight starts, he has given up three or more goals, and in five of the starts, he gave up 4+ goals.
Anaheim is coming off a 4-3 shootout win over Ottawa on Sunday and has won five of their last eight games, scoring three or more goals in each victory. Ducks’ defenseman Olen Zellweger leads the Anaheim blueliners with 58 shots on goal. He has had 2+ shots on goal in 12 of his last 13 games. The price is steep, but cashing at a 92% success rate is more than worth a shot. Also worth a shot is the first period Over 1.5 goals. Anaheim has cashed the first period Over in 11 of their last 13 games and nine of 13 home games this season.
NHL Predictions: Anaheim ML (+140) – 1 unit
Anaheim/Vegas 1st period Over 1.5 (-135) – 1 unit
Anaheim/Vegas Under 6.5 (-120) – 1 unit
Olen Zellweger Over 1.5 shots on goal (-165) – 1 unit
Anaheim TT Over 3.5 (+175) – ¼ unit
