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Hello to all my hockey bettors out there and happy Saturday!
Today’s best bets will be looking for redemption after a rare 0-2 night on Thursday that left me and many others scratching their heads. The Carolina Hurricanes disappointed us all, but it did not break my spirit!
The NHL has provided us with a perfect bounce back set up today as we get a full 13-game slate around the league from 1-10:30pm, we have hockey all day! Here are the angles I am looking to wager to kick off the weekend.
Season Totals to Date:
Record: 39-22
Units: +13.34
Columbus Blue Jackets @ Florida Panthers 6PM ET
No Fear. That’s right after the disaster that was Carolina on Thursday, I am going full steam ahead against Columbus once more for one of today’s best bet. Like the Hurricanes, the Panthers have been an amazing team all season long and perhaps one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. They come into tonight’s game winners of three in a row and seven of their last 10. Over the past five games, the offense has been piping hot: scoring 27 goals over four wins. I will add in that they also hold a home record of 20-3 straight up on the season and have won the last six games on home ice. The only slight downer for the Panthers is that they played last night so Sergei Bobrovsky will not start. Instead, it will be youngster Spencer Knight whose stats aren’t as good as Bob, but he still holds a respectable record of 7-4-2 on the season. The lineup in front of him is clear of injury and COVID-19 with Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov highlighting the group.
Quick shoutout to Huberdeau who is having the best season of his career this year with 51 points through just 37 games which is fourth most in the NHL right now. The Panthers are 13-10 ATS this season on home ice and the NBC Sports game predictor engine has the Panthers in its highest confidence rating for the game tonight. The predictor is 89-64 within those marks on the season.
Now, let’s talk about those pesky Blue Jackets briefly. The massive win against Carolina on Thursday aside, this team has been miserable on the road this season. They are just 6-11 outside of the state of Ohio and they have even worse underlying statistics. The Jackets allow 3.46 goals per game which is the sixth most in the NHL and their Corsi For percentage is 48.5 on the season, which means they are getting bullied at 5-on-5 play. By comparison, the Panthers Corsi For percentage is 56.1; the best mark in the NHL this season. The Panthers may allow some goals tonight, but considering they are averaging over five per game themselves, I think Florida could very well bury the Jackets tonight.
Los Angeles Kings @ Seattle Kraken 10PM ET
I don’t think many people have been paying attention to the Kings this season and I wouldn’t blame you. They aren’t the sexiest team in the league, but they have been effective to this point. Fresh off of a 6-2 smacking of the Penguins, the Kings have quietly won seven of their last 10 games and head to Seattle on a three-game win streak. In the seven games since their holiday break, LA’s outscored opponents 24-14 and have seemed to have found its identity: fundamental defense and quick efficient attacking. The Kings rank third best in goals allowed per game at just 2.49 and a large reason for that has been Jonathan Quick’s return to Stanley Cup-winning form.
Quick has held down a 2.38 GAA and SV% of .921 this season and those stats rank ninth best in the league in both categories. He has also been formidable on the road as since the start of November, boasting a 4-1-1 record away from Southern California. He has not been confirmed to start at this hour, so if he does not the Kings bet could become a fade so keep an eye on the news. Final thing to note on the Kings is they are 6-5-3 on the road this season, but their recent form gives me reason to ride with them over the Kraken tonight.
Speaking of the Kraken, things have not been peachy for the expansion team this season. At 10-22-4, there are a lot of things wrong with this unit. To start, the goaltending has been dreadful and that’s a surprise given who is anchoring the team in Philip Grubauer. The Kraken allow the second most goals in the NHL this season at 3.67 goals per game and are riding an eight-game losing streak heading into tonight. I believe things will get worse before they get better, so the Kings on the Money Line holds value for us tonight. Sorry Kraken fans!
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Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers Player Prop 10PM ET
The final best bet for this Saturday comes in the form of a player prop and a familiar face for hockey fans. Connor McDavid is an amazing player; we all know this. His 53 points on the season rank tied for first as of today and that’s all fine and dandy but his goalscoring mark of 19 on the season is a little puzzling to many. Since the start of December, McDavid has only five goals over 13 games with two coming in one outing. During that stretch, he has only scored once in front of the home fans more than a month ago on Dec. 1. I don’t need to tell anyone that this guy is due in a big way, but I realize that just saying he’s due is good enough to wager with, so let’s go deeper for tonight.
In his career McDavid has scored 114 goals over 219 homes games, which averages out to .521 goals per game on home ice. Since November, McDavid’s netted four goals in 14 home games and that’s way down at .285 goals per game. Obviously, positive regression is coming for the Oilers captain and what better team to get right against than the Ottawa Senators?
The Senators allow 3.60 goals per game which is the fourth highest mark in the NHL and hold the second worst Corsi For % in the league at 44.8%. Ottawa also maintains a poor showing on the penalty kill at just 78.4% and McDavid lives on the Oilers top power play unit that is the best in hockey at 30.2%. McDavid’s recent struggles in scoring also put the odds for him to score at a very manageable -115; I have not seen it that low in some time. All that stated I am hopping on McDavid to light the lamp tonight in front of the Edmonton faithful.
The Picks
Florida Panthers -1.5 (-120 on PointsBet)
LA Kings Money Line (-121 on PointsBet)
Connor McDavid Over 0.5 Goals (-115 on PointsBet)
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