NHL Thursday Betting Preview: Eastern Showdown in Toronto

Detroit Red Wings vs New York Rangers

The New York Rangers had a big win in their first game post-All-Star break, coming back from a third-period deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. New York has won three games in a row.

Meanwhile, Detroit is coming off a rough 7-4 loss to the scorching-hot Minnesota Wild earlier in the week, which snapped a two-game winning streak for the Red Wings. Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic is going through a bit of a rough stretch with a sub -.870 save percentage in three starts this month.

The good news for Detroit is that the Rangers aren’t an elite offensive team by any means, but New York is great at goal prevention thanks to the Vezina Trophy-level play of Igor Shesterkin. New York is also tough to beat at home (16-4-2) so go with the Rangers, maybe to win in regulation. The under is enticing too.

Washington Capitals vs Philadelphia Flyers

It has been a season filled with losing streaks for the Philadelphia Flyers and they are on yet another skid. The Flyers have lost their last three games and things won’t get easier on Thursday as they host the Washington Capitals, who are coming off an impressive 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators. That win might help Washington turn the corner.

Washington’s goalie situation still isn’t great with Vitek Vanecek out due to injury, but Ilya Samsonov was outstanding against Nashville and he’ll likely get the start again on Thursday. The Capitals are sizable road favorites on the BetUS sportsbook for good reason. They’re a smart play on the puckline.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Toronto Maple Leafs

This is probably the game of the night and it should be a great one. Pittsburgh has won four straight games right after snapping a four-game losing streak and is getting contributions from up and down its lineup. But, the straw that stirs Pittsburgh’s drink is the still-incredible Sidney Crosby, who notched his 500th career goal in the comeback win over the Flyers on Tuesday. Crosby has 46 points in only 38 games.

The Maple Leafs broke out of a small funk with a 6-2 beatdown of the Seattle Kraken earlier this week. Toronto has won seven of nine overall and is playing really good hockey, particularly in terms of generating high-quality offensive chances. The Leafs will make things tough for Tristan Jarry.

Toronto is a solid home favorite and is a good bet on the moneyline if you don’t mind the relative lack of value. But, the Penguins are also a really good team and have been great on the road, so they’re a worthy underdog.

St. Louis Blues vs Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are in danger of going winless (and pointless) throughout an eight-game homestand. The Canadiens wrap up their home stretch against the St. Louis Blues and trying to snap an overall 10-game losing streak. St. Louis kicked off a four-game road trip with a comfortable 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday behind more impressive goaltending from Ville Husso, who has been one of the NHL’s biggest surprises.

Vegas expects the Blues to notch their third win in a row. If you’re betting online, the move here is, unsurprisingly for a Canadiens game, to take St. Louis on the puckline. The Blues should win big so the over is a play too.

Ottawa Senators vs Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are starting to click offensively, having won back-to-back games for the first time in two months. A big reason for their recent surge is the play of Alex Tuch, who has points in four straight games and has been better than a point-per-game player since debuting for the Sabres in late December.

The Ottawa Senators followed up a big win over the Capitals last weekend with a lopsided loss to the Blues a few days ago. The Senators are still pretty banged up and likely won’t have defenseman Thomas Chabot, whose absence was felt against St. Louis. Chabot averages over 26 minutes of ice time so the Senators’ defense is out of sorts when he’s sidelined.

Buffalo is a slight home favorite. The Sabres are the play with Ottawa missing Chabot, Josh Norris, Drake Batherson and possibly Matt Murray, who left Tuesday’s game early with an injury.

Boston Bruins vs New York Islanders

Both the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders are really going through it right now. Boston has lost three of four and New York has lost three in a row. The Bruins are still without Patrice Bergeron (injury) and Brad Marchand (suspension) and they were each missed in a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday. Boston has really struggled to score without them in the lineup.

Things are even worse for the Islanders, who dropped the last three games of a four-game road trip by multiple goals. New York’s offensive issues have been prevalent all season and now the defense and goaltending are slumping as well.

With that said, this game is essentially a pick’em. Consider taking the Islanders to snap their skid at home. Also, the under between these two teams strapped for scoring is also a smart play.

Seattle Kraken vs Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets look to build on the momentum from a surprising 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday as they host the Seattle Kraken. Winnipeg got a hat trick from Mark Scheifele and four assists from Blake Wheeler in the victory.

Seattle is coming off a loss to the Maple Leafs on Monday in which a familiar issue doomed the Kraken: goaltending. Philipp Grubauer was chased from the game after giving up three first-period goals and backup Chris Driedger wasn’t much better. The Kraken have by far the lowest save percentage in the NHL and Grubauer, who has usually been a reliable netminder throughout his career, is in large part to blame for that.

Winnipeg, even with the rest disadvantage, is favored at home and is the team to bet.

Columbus Blue Jackets vs Chicago Blackhawks

It has been a lost season, in more ways than one, for the Chicago Blackhawks, but they have shown a little life recently with big road wins over the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers in the past week. But, the Blackhawks have been terrible at home (8-11-3) and have dropped four straight games at United Center.

They’ll try to get off the schneid at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who had a four-game winning streak snapped by the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Interestingly, Chicago is favored in this game despite the Blue Jackets playing well lately. So, this might be a spot to take Columbus straight-up with plus value.

Anaheim Ducks vs Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers will try to make it four wins in a row under interim coach Jay Woodcroft as they host the struggling Anaheim Ducks, who have lost three in a row. Edmonton has gotten great goaltending from Mike Smith and Stuart Skinner over the past few games and will look to keep the good times rolling against Anaheim, which is in an offensive tailspin.

Edmonton has the rest advantage and Anaheim likely will start backup goalie Anthony Stolarz instead of John Gibson, so the Oilers are big home favorites. The Oilers on the puckline is an intriguing bet for this one.

Vancouver Canucks vs San Jose Sharks

The Vancouver Canucks are still on the fringes of the Western Conference wild card picture so playing a sliding San Jose Sharks team that has lost four games in a row feels like a gift for Vancouver. In their last game, the Canucks stunned the Maple Leafs behind an incredible 51-save effort from Thatcher Demko. They’ll try to replicate that showing against less-explosive San Jose.

Vancouver is a slight road favorite but this one is very close to pick’em territory. Wherever you get the line at, though, take the Canucks here.