NHL Predictions – Wednesday, October 16:
It was an emotional night in Columbus on Tuesday as both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Florida Panthers paid tribute to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. Players from both teams had Johnny Gaudreau’s name and number 13 on the back of their jerseys for warmup. The Blue Jackets had four players on the ice for the opening face-off, leaving one spot for Gaudreau. When the puck was dropped, players stayed in place until play was stopped after 13 seconds. The Florida Panthers rallied for a 4-3 victory. From a betting perspective, it was the best night of the young season for the favorites as they went 7-2. The Seattle Kraken (+165) and the Washington Capitals (+110) were the two underdogs that cashed. Seattle kept the Nashville Predators (0-3) winless on the season while the Capitals, behind former Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson. handed Vegas (3-1) their first loss of the season. Let’s look at tonight’s NHL predictions.
Los Angeles Kings at Toronto Maple Leafs (-175, 6)
7:30 p.m. ET
The Los Angeles Kings visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, fresh off scoring seven goals against the Ottawa Senators on Monday. Scoring seven goals should have been enough to win a game, but it wasn’t for the Kings as they fell to Ottawa, 8-7 in overtime. Goalie Darcy Kuemper was arguably the Kings’ best player in their first two games of the season and struggled against Ottawa, giving up all eight goals. The Kings announced this morning that Kuemper is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. David Rittich will get the start in net for the Kings tonight. Goalie Pheonix Copley has been recalled on an emergency basis.
I don’t expect LA and Toronto to trade goals as freely tonight as the Kings did Monday versus Ottawa. Toronto has given up just five goals in their three games to start the season, and I expect LA to try to play a more defensive game. For what it’s worth, the last four meetings between the two teams have stayed under the betting total.
Three games into the season, the Leafs’ Auston Matthews remains without a goal and a point despite a team-high of 15 shots on goal. Matthews did have two stretches last season, going four games without a goal, but I believe the goalless streak ends tonight against an LA team that remains without future Hall of Fame defenseman Drew Doughty for the first three months of the season. The Maple Leafs are getting 86% of the bets and 80% of the money.
NHL Predictions: Auston Matthews anytime goal (-135) – 1 unit
Auston Matthews Over 4.5 SOG (-120) – 1 unit
Toronto Maple Leafs ML (-175) – 2 units
Boston Bruins at Colorado Avalanche (-120, 6.5)
9:30 p.m. ET
The Colorado Avalanche are one of four teams in the NHL without a win this season and join the Nashville Predators as the only two teams who haven’t been able to get a game to overtime and pick up a loser point. The 20 goals given up by the Avalanche are a league-high. Number one goalie, Alexandar Georgiev has given up 13 goals on 61 shots. That breaks down to a save percentage of .787 and a goals against average of 6.58. He has been given the hook in two of his three starts, and Avalanche fans are calling him “Four-giev” for his propensity to give up four goals or more every time out.
Goaltending isn’t the only issue for the Avalanche, who are still without forwards Gabe Landeskog (injured), Jonathan Drouin (injured), Val Nichushkin (suspended), and defenseman Devon Toews will likely miss his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. The injuries have challenged the team’s depth, and it looks at times that star players Nathan Mackinnon, Cale Makar and Miko Rantanen are trying to do too much. Rantanen hasn’t scored a goal since his hat trick on opening night. MacKinnon has just one goal, and Makar has yet to find the back of the net but does have five assists. Colorado Avalanche’s three games have averaged a combined 10 goals per game.
The Bruins come into tonight’s contest with a record of (2-2), both losses at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Florida Panthers. Three of Boston’s four games have gone Over the betting total (10,10,7 goals). Number one goalie Jeremy Swayman has played the last three games and has been touched up for four goals in two of his starts.
Offensively, David Pastrnak has had a solid start to the season, scoring a goal in each of the first three games before being blanked by the Panthers in the Bruins loss on Monday. Pastrnak has feasted on the Avalanche in his career, scoring 12 goals in 16 career games and eight goals in his last five versus Colorado.
Over 6.5 has been getting hammered by bettors, taking in 61% of the bets and 92% of the money.
NHL Predictions: Boston/Colorado Over 6.5 (-102) – 1 unit
David Pastrnak anytime goal (+110) – 1 unit
