NHL Thursday Betting Recap: East Powers Keep Rolling

The NHL’s dominant teams in the Eastern Conference continue to surge forward

With the shutout, Colorado defenseman Cale Makar’s franchise-record 13-game assist streak, the fifth-longest by a defenseman in NHL history, came to an end.

It was the fourth loss in the last five games for the Avalanche, who still lead the NHL with 87 points.

The Florida Panthers kept pace with Carolina for the points lead in the Eastern Conference with a 6-3 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

Sam Reinhart scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season, defenseman Aaron Ekblad had a career-best four assists and Jonathan Huberdeau also had four assists to break his own team record for assists in a season. Huberdeau took over the NHL scoring lead with 82 points, moving by Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.

Carter Verhaeghe scored twice, giving him his first 20-goal season. Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny and James van Riemsdyk had the goals for the Flyers.

The game got a little nasty in the second period after Scott Laughton was hit by Florida’s Petteri Lindbohm. Lindbohm was not called for a penalty for the hit that resulted in Laughton being knocked out of the game after crashing into the boards. Lindbohm and Konecny dropped the gloves in one of two fights in the period..

Flames Keep Rolling

Johnny Gaudreau had three goals to extend his point streak to seven games as the Calgary Flames rolled past the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. It was the first hat trick for Gaudreau since 2019. He is tied for the NHL lead with 44 points since Jan. 1.

The win improved Calgary’s record to 15-2-1 over the last 18 games. Something of interest to those who bet online: It was the sixth time in the last seven games that Calgary has scored at least four goals. Calgary increased its lead in the Pacific Division to five points over Los Angeles and nine over Vegas.

Vegas (+1000) is still one of seven teams ahead of Calgary (+1300) in the odds to win the Stanley Cup title.

Mikael Backlund had the other goal for the Flames while Jacob Markstrom had 30 saves. Alex Killorn had the goal for Tampa Bay, which lost in regulation in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

One of the headline attractions on Thursday night was Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights returning to play the lowly Buffalo Sabres.

It wasn’t quite the homecoming that Eichel, a former captain of the Sabres, envisioned as he was held scoreless in Buffalo’s 3-1 win. The two-goal win by the Sabres carried an NHL betting lines moneyline of +800.

Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, acquired by Buffalo in the trade that sent Eichel to Vegas, had goals as did Victor Olofsson, while Craig Anderson stopped 30 of 31 shots to win for the third time in his last four starts. He became the sixth American-born goalie to win 300 NHL games.

Ben Hutton tied the game at 1-1 in the third period for Vegas before a power-play goal by Olofsson with 3:44 put Buffalo back in front.

Eichel was booed by a segment of the energized fan base throughout the game. His comments after the game certainly won’t endear him to those fans.

“It’s the loudest I’ve heard this place ever. Really,” Eichel said after the game. “It only took seven years and me leaving for them to get into the game. It was a nice tribute. There was plenty of people here that were supporting me, and there was plenty of people that were booing me. They must just be booing me because they wish I was still here, I don’t know.”

Jack Eichel: yeah, it’s about the loudest I’ve heard this building ever. Really, it only took seven years and me leaving to get into the game……..they must just be booing me because they wish I was still here 👀 @WKBW pic.twitter.com/2FatvHS1d7

— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) March 11, 2022

Blues Halt Slide

Robert Thomas scored twice in the first period as the St. Louis Blues snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the visiting New York Rangers.

The Blues didn’t score more than three goals in their last four games, but had three in both the first and second periods despite going 0-for-3 on the power play. The Blues’ four-goal win had a Las Vegas odds payout of +1400

The Rangers got power-play goals from Ryan Strome and KeAndre Miller but lost their second game in a row.

Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist, Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists and Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots as the Nashville Predators defeated the visiting Anaheim Ducks 4-1.

Adam Henrique had the goal for Anaheim, which was without veteran forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Jakob Silfverberg, who were placed on injured reserve, and Calder Memorial Trophy candidate Trevor Zegras (upper-body).

The Minnesota Wild edged the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 in a shootout in the highest-scoring game of the night.

Matt Boldy had two goals, Joel Eriksson Ek a goal and an assist and Fredrick Gaudreau two assists for the Wild, who rallied from a two-goal deficit.

Minnesota won in the shootout when Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Fiala scored while Detroit missed its first two attempts. Jakub Vrana and Lucas Raymond both scored twice for Detroit.

The wins by St. Louis, Minnesota and Nashville left those teams separated by three points in the competitive Central Division standings.

The Boston Bruins, which had allowed the tying or winning goal in the final minute in three of its last four games, changed the script as David Pastrnak scored with less than 20 seconds left to lift the Bruins to the 4-3 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.

Brandon Hagel scored twice for Chicago while Alex DeBrincat scored his 34th goal.

Defenseman Jack Ahcan, playing in his eighth career game, scored his first career goal and Charlie Coyle also scored for the Bruins. Coyle has 10 points in his last 13 games. The Bruins have points in the last 10 games when Coyle scores a goal.

Pastrnak had two goals and an assist and leads the NHL with 25 goals since Jan. 1.

DeBrincat scored in his fifth game in a row and has eight points in his last three contests.

Coyotes Pull Stunner

Defenseman Jakob Chychrun scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lead the visiting Arizona Coyotes to a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Chychrun has back-to-back, two-goal games and scored five times in his last five games after not recording a goal in his first 14 games.

Matias Maccelli, playing in his fourth career game, had two assists for his first multi-point game at the NHL level. Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and an assist for Arizona, which won its fourth game in a row. The Coyotes have 22 goals in their last three games.

Alex Kerfoot had a goal and an assist and William Nylander added a goal and an assist for Toronto, which outshot Arizona 38-23.

Anders Lee recorded his first career hat trick and Ilya Sorokin had his sixth shutout, which ranks second in the NHL as he made 25 saves in the New York Islanders‘ 6-0 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Islanders converted twice on the power play and once shorthanded as New York scored its most goals in 14 games.

On a night when goals were being scored at a fast and furious pace, the Winnipeg Jets edged the host New Jersey Devils 2-1 in the lowest-scoring game on Thursday.

Kyle Connor’s 35th goal in the final minute of the second period snapped a 1-1 tie. Jack Hughes tied the game on the power play for New Jersey. It was Hughes’ 18th goal and gave him 10 goals and 13 assists in his last 14 games.

Josh Norris, playing in his 100th career game, scored twice, including the winner in overtime, as the Ottawa Senators edged the visiting Seattle Kraken 4-3 in one of three games where both teams are outside of the playoffs.

Seattle rallied from three goals down to force overtime when Jared McCann, Ryan Donato and Mason Appleton scored less than four minutes apart, setting the stage for Norris to score on the power play in overtime. Brady Tkachuk had his 20th goal and added an assist for Ottawa.

Tomas Hertl scored in overtime as the visiting San Jose Sharks rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Hertl, Alexander Barabanov and Brent Burns each had a goal and an assist for the Sharks while Trevor Moore led Los Angeles with a goal and an assist. Moore’s shorthanded goal was his career-high 11th of the season and put the Kings up 3-1.