Expert NHL Best Bets and Predictions for Saturday, January 20
It’s a jam-packed Saturday in the NHL, but I don’t love the early slate of games, so the focus will be on the night games.
There are two matchups that I have my eyes on, one of which is a battle between two Canadian teams that have a ton of offensive firepower, and the other is a Jonathan Quick revenge game in Los Angeles.
Toronto at Vancouver (-130, 6.5)
The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a win on the road in Calgary, but this team has not been defending all that well lately. In their last five games, the Leafs have been allowing 4.00 goals against per game and have been struggling mightily on the penalty kill, only converting at a 69.2% rate.
The Vancouver Canucks are seeking revenge from their last meeting in November when the Leafs defeated them 5-2 in Toronto. The Canucks have won six of their last seven games and are rolling right now, so they’re looking to take advantage of a vulnerable Leafs group on home ice.
Martin Jones is likely to get the nod in goal for Toronto. In his last four appearances, he is 1-2-1 with a 3.54 goals against average and a .882 save percentage, not very strong numbers.
Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, JT Miller and Brock Boeser can really expose the weak blue line of Toronto, while Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander will look to dictate the pace offensively against the Canucks.
This should be an up-and-down track meet. Give me all the goals.
Bet: Over 6.5 -130 (play to -145)
NY Rangers at Los Angeles (-122, +102)
After having very strong starts to the season, the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings have not been playing their best hockey lately. With that said, tonight will be about Jonathan Quick returning to LA for the first time since being traded last year. Quick was with the Kings from 2007 up until last season, so this will certainly be an emotional night.
Quick has had an excellent season thus far for the Rangers, skating to a 9-3-2 record with a .912 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average.
When the Kings came to New York earlier this season, Quick was vocal about how much playing his old team meant to him. He had a phenomenal showing in that game, stopping 25 of the 26 shots he faced while skating to a .962 save percentage and winning by the score of 4-1. Not only is this a big game for Quick, but it’s also a big game for his team, who just got smoked in Las Vegas by the score of 5-1 in their most recent game.
The Kings have lost nine out of their last ten games and have struggled to score goals. Since the new year, the Kings have the fourth-worst offense in the NHL, only averaging 2.22 goals per game, and they haven’t been defending all that well as they’re giving up 3.33 goals against in that span.
This is a good bounce-back spot for the Rangers, especially with a motivated goaltender in the blue paint tonight. I’m putting my faith in Quick.
Bet: New York Rangers ML +102 (play to -110)
