Back with some free NHL picks tonight for the first time since going 2-0 with a push on January 13, which moved us to 15-8 on the year.
There are 12 games in the NHL tonight, including the Canadiens, Senators, Oilers, Canucks and Jets in action. Home teams are favoured in all but two of the games, and the Bruins, Blues and Oilers are all favourites of -220 or higher.
We’ve gone a little bit creative in finding ways to bet against a couple of road teams while not paying too much juice. Hopefully it pays off.
Don’t forget to check out our live odds page if you’re interested in seeing tonight’s NHL betting lines. Otherwise, here’s what we like for tonight:
NHL Betting Picks For Tonight
Tampa Bay Lightning at Nashville Predators
Betting against the Tampa Bay Lightning this season isn’t the easiest way to make money. But the Lightning has been in probably its biggest rut of the year recently, and it didn’t necessarily end with last night’s 2-0 win in Chicago.
Though Tampa blanked the Hawks, the Bolts still gave up 40 shots and relied too much on netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy. They also struggled to generate much offense, scoring 2 goals or less for the sixth time in their last 9 games. Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are both in scoring slumps, possibly because Tampa is missing the back-end production of the injured Victor Hedman.
Playing its second road game in as many nights, Tampa looks to be in tough here against a defensively-sound Nashville squad. Saros is starting in net for the Preds, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This could easily be a 2-1 game either way, but we certainly think there’s better than a 50% chance that the Lightning doesn’t score 3 goals tonight. At even money, we’ll go Under their team total.
NHL Betting Prediction: Lightning Team Total Under 2.5 +100
Florida Panthers at Dallas Stars
Dallas is rolling at both ends of the rink right now. But the reason we’re not on the Stars here is because A) they’re a bit overpriced, and B) they’re in the vulnerable spot of playing their first home game after a lengthy road trip. It’s also pretty likely that they’re not going to get that excited about playing the lowly Panthers here tonight.
Florida has given the Stars fits over recent seasons, winning 6 of its last 7 visits to Big D. The Panthers are also generating plenty of shots on net over the past couple of weeks, recording 40+ shots in 4 of their last 6. If Dallas lets down at all in the early going, don’t be surprised if the Panthers jump out to an early lead.
Florida will be hard-pressed to hold onto any lead tonight, however, because their defence is leaking some serious oil. The Panthers have been gouged for 4+ goals in 5 of their last 7 games, bad news when facing an opponent with the skill level of the Stars. We see pretty strong potential for both teams to score at least 2 goals tonight and won’t be surprised if they even each get to 3.
NHL betting prediction: Over 5.5 -110
New York Rangers at Anaheim Ducks
Remember last year when the Rangers were the best road team in the entire NHL? Yeah, not so much anymore. In fact, we’re nearly at the end of January and the Blueshirts have won in regulation time on the road just TWICE all season.
If that’s not bad enough for the Rangers, they’re playing their 6th game in 9 days and 7th in 11 here. Even though Anaheim has been a bit loose in its own end of late, we don’t think the Rangers have the energy level necessary to enjoy much success offensively against what is usually a pretty good defensive unit in Anaheim.
The Ducks should also be motivated to rebound from a 6-2 loss at home to the rival Sharks on Sunday night. Look for Anaheim to crack down defensively in this one.
NHL betting prediction: Rangers Team Total Under 2.5 -118