NHL Best Bets
Last night was another wild night in the NHL. I was up until about 2 a.m. ET watching the end of that Seattle/Vegas game. What an incredible comeback and finish that was by Vegas. Tonight won’t be as loud, as there are only four games throughout the league, but all four games do happen to have some playoff implications. Let’s get into my NHL best bets.
Los Angeles at St. Louis (+130, 6)
The St. Louis Blues are still on the outside looking in, but this group isn’t giving up on their playoff hopes yet. The Blues are coming off a massive 5-1 win on the road in Boston. Tonight, they will look to shrink the distance between themselves and the second wild card spot even more. The Blues are eight points back of the Kings and the Golden Knights, so these two points are crucial.
The Blues are back on home ice after a long five-game road trip. They should be fired up tonight to be in front of their own crowd. The Kings have been a bit of an odd team this year. Going back to the start of February, they haven’t been much of a threat offensively. In these six or so weeks, the Kings are averaging 2.75 goals per game. Outside of Trevor Moore (four goals) and Phillip Danault (five goals), the Kings haven’t gotten a ton of goal-scoring in their last 10 games.
St. Louis hasn’t announced a starter yet for tonight’s game. I strongly feel they’ll run it back with Joel Hofer, who is coming off a very strong performance. In his last two starts, Hofer is 1-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage.
The Blues should be the more desperate team tonight. I like them as a home dog.
NHL Best Bet: St. Louis Blues ML +130 (play to +115)
Colorado at Vancouver (-115, 6.5)
This is a big dog matchup between two of the best teams in the Western Conference. The Colorado Avalanche are playing the second night of a back-to-back. They beat the wheels off of the Calgary Flames last night. The Avalanche have won four straight games and six out of their last seven, so they’re feeling hot coming into this one tonight. In those six wins, the Avalanche scored a minimum of five goals in each.
In this span, the Avalanche have been averaging 4.43 goals per game. Their power play is clicking at a rapid 35% rate.
The Vancouver Canucks suffered a massive loss in their last game. Despite winning the game, their starting netminder, Thatcher Demko, got injured during the contest and will be out for a decent amount of time. That means Casey DeSmith will have the net tonight. He is 8-4-5 on the season with a .900 save percentage and a 2.85 goals-against average.
DeSmith has been a solid backup, but tonight will be difficult for him. Luckily, the Canucks don’t have much of a problem scoring goals, as they’re the third-highest-scoring team in the league. Vancouver averages 3.55 goals per game and have a ton of offensive weapons like JT Miller, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes.
The Avalanche have some weapons themselves as Nathan MacKinnon is currently leading the NHL in scoring with 113 points.
This game should be an up-and-down track meet. I think it will be very high-scoring.
NHL Best Bet: Over 6.5 -115 (play to -130)
March Record: 10-12 (-5.01 units)
2023-24 record: 110–123 (-38.27 units)
