After a pretty quiet Friday night in the NHL, Saturday is loaded with games and features an intriguing matchup between two of the better teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences.
The Carolina Hurricanes keep racking up wins and scoring tons of goals so it’ll be interesting to see how they play against the Minnesota Wild, who have been one of the biggest surprises in the league. Carolina and Minnesota aren’t Cup favorites, by any means, but this is definitely a potential Stanley Cup Final preview.
Let’s run through all eight games with an eye to the NHL betting lines:
Philadelphia Flyers vs Detroit Red Wings
The Flyers finally managed to snap their 13-game losing streak right before the All-Star break with a pair of home wins. Now, Philadelphia is looking to snap another skid: a seven-game road losing streak. The Flyers will try to do so against the Red Wings, who they lost to 6-3 on Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Home-and-homes usually don’t feature this much time off between games, so it’s a little unique. Detroit has cooled off after a strong start yet the Red Wings are still getting high-end contributions from Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, and rookies Lucas Raymond and Morris Seider. Detroit is talented and is the better team here.
If you’re betting online, don’t expect the Flyers’ road woes to end on Saturday afternoon. The Red Wings are sizable home favorites.
Boston Bruins vs Ottawa Senators
Between the absences of Brad Marchand (suspension), Patrice Bergeron (injury), and Tuukka Rask (retirement), the Bruins are down a bunch of key pieces and are feeling it. Boston was smoked 6-0 by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday for a second-straight loss.
Their opponent on Saturday, the Senators, is also shorthanded but has played pretty well since returning from the break. Ottawa can wrap up a four-game homestand with a 3-1-0 record by beating Boston, which still needs to figure out how to split time in net between Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
The Bruins are solid road favorites and, even though they’re down a few key players, could be a smart play on the puckline.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Montreal Canadiens
The Martin St. Louis Era in Montreal got off to a rough start, as the Canadiens lost 5-2 to the Washington Capitals in the Hall of Famer’s debut as interim head coach. Montreal has lost eight games in a row and has won twice since the end of November.
Meanwhile, Columbus has won four of its last five games and has won four straight on the road. The Blue Jackets have scored four or more goals in each of their last five games. Goal prevention has been the major issue for Columbus all season but the offense waking up is a promising sign for a team that is more talented than it has shown. Looking to place a bet on the Minnesota Wild vs Arizona Coyotes NHL game?
The Blue Jackets are slightly favored on the BetUS sportsbook but probably aren’t getting enough respect from Vegas considering how bad Montreal is.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Vancouver Canucks
Toronto’s six-game winning streak was snapped by the Calgary Flames on Thursday so the Maple Leafs will try to bounce back against the Canucks, who are coming off a 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Wednesday. Jaroslav Halak was chased after an ugly first period in which he allowed five goals.
Vancouver should have starter Thatcher Demko back in net on Saturday but he’ll have his hands full with a Toronto team that is firing on all cylinders offensively. It’s going to be hard for the Canucks to contain the Maple Leafs, especially after a loss. Toronto has lost consecutive games just twice.
The Maple Leafs are big favorites on the road.
Winnipeg Jets vs Nashville Predators
Nashville looks to extend a three-game home winning streak against a struggling Winnipeg team that lost to the Stars in overtime on Friday night and has lost eight of its last 10. Connor Hellebuyck is a workhorse for Winnipeg but he might get the day off on Saturday.
The Predators have won four of six and keep getting elite goaltending from Juuse Saros, who has probably been the biggest reason for their surprising success. The goaltending situation is why Nashville is such a lopsided road favorite.
Carolina Hurricanes vs Minnesota Wild
This is the game of the night. For the first time, the Hurricanes and Wild face off in a battle of exciting and well-balanced teams that should make long playoff runs this spring. Carolina is coming off a 6-0 beatdown of the Bruins on Thursday while the Wild lost 2-0 to Winnipeg on Tuesday in their first game after the All-Star break.
Minnesota has won six of seven overall and has lost just three times in 2022. Both the Hurricanes and Wild are deep teams that can roll multiple times and also have good defenses too, so this should be a fun game.
Carolina is slightly favored on the road but this line is pretty close to being a pick’em and could move toward that as the day goes on.
Chicago Blackhawks vs St. Louis Blues
The Blues need to bounce back after an ugly (and uncharacteristic) 7-4 home loss to the struggling New Jersey Devils on Thursday. St. Louis might turn back to Ville Husso in net on Saturday after Jordan Binnington was lit up by the Devils. The Blues have lost three of four and have to capitalize against a bad team like the Blackhawks.
According to @MoneyPuckdotcom, Jordan Binnington's allowed 3.14 more goals than expected in all situations.
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 11, 2022
Chicago did beat the Oilers 4-1 on Wednesday — which was the last straw for Dave Tippett’s tenure in Edmonton — but the Blackhawks have lost seven of their last nine games overall.
St. Louis is a big home favorite and might be worth a look on the puckline. The over (six goals) is also an intriguing bet.
New York Islanders vs Calgary Flames
This is going to be a tough one for the Islanders, who lost 3-1 to the Oilers Friday night. The Flames are riding a five-game winning streak and are scoring tons of goals — four or more in their last four games — while getting incredible goaltending from Jacob Markstrom, who leads the NHL with eight shutouts.
The Islanders just can’t seem to break out of the funk they’ve been in for the past few weeks, particularly with getting consistent scoring. Tonight would be a great time to have a solid 60-minute performance on both ends of the ice but Calgary is a really tough opponent to do that against. So, it makes sense that the Flames are such an overwhelming home favorite.
