Four games to choose from for our free NHL betting picks for tonight.
The featured matchup comes in Washington, where the Capitals host the Penguins. In other action, the Panthers visit the Islanders, the Canadiens travel to Winnipeg and the Flames welcome the Sharks.
NHL Betting Picks For Tonight
1. Panthers Team Total Under 2.5 -107 (Pinnacle)
Neither Florida or New York are scoring a lot of goals right now. The Islanders’ offence was clicking before their bye week (23 goals in 5 game) but it’s dried up after their week off, managing just 1 goal against both the Avalanche and Coyotes. The Panthers’ struggles scoring goals are more permanent, as they’ve failed to score more than 3 goals in 9 straight outings (2 or less in 6 of those 9). We see a low-scoring game tonight in Brooklyn and like the Islanders chances of winning, but think it’s even more likely that the Panthers are held to 2 goals or less.
2. Canadiens Team Total Over 2.5 -104 (Pinnacle)
Montreal laid a bit of an egg Tuesday at home to Washington but that was forgivable. The Canadiens were in a very tough situational spot there, playing their first home game in nearly a month after a 7-game road trip that was extended by the Christmas break. Now they go back out on the road, where they’re 4-0-2 in their last 6 games and 10-6-4 on the season. Winnipeg had a nice effort Tuesday, blanking the Flames 2-0 in their first game without Patrik Laine, but they’ve still given up 3 goals or more in 4 of their last 6 games. Montreal’s won 11 of its last 15 versus Winnipeg and has rebounded well from bad losses (4-0 last 4 following a loss of 3+ goals), and we like them to bounce back offensively tonight. Plus, with Price sitting tonight, they might need an extra goal or two to pull out a win.
3. Sharks First Period Moneyline -110
We don’t ordinarily like to bet on teams playing their second game of a back-to-back in Calgary because the high altitude accentuates the regular fatigue. But we like the way the Sharks have played the last 2 games and by backing them in the first period only, we’ll get them when they’re their most fresh. Plus San Jose has been a quality first period team on the road (outscoring opponents by average of 0.95-0.52) and also in their last 10 games (0.7-0.3 in that span). Calgary is simply average at home (11-10 this year) and hasn’t been that strong out of the gate in the Saddledome. In order to lose this bet, the Sharks would have to give up at least 1 goal, and they don’t do that often in first periods. We’ll hope San Jose pots one early and a 1-0 lead can stand up to cash this ticket.