Wednesday in the NHL gives us a chance to stack some underdogs for our NHL betting parlay. I’m seeing not one, not two, but three potential upsets brewing with these NHL odds, all available from the BetUS online sportsbook.
And unlike some nights, the NHL has mostly competitive matchups tonight. This new format allows teams to become more familiar and testy with each other. The more emotions are involved, the more potential for upsets.
Hurricanes One-Up The Lightning
The third time’s the charm for Tampa, which finally solved the Hurricanes on Monday. The Bolts are bigger favorites now per online sports betting odds, which only makes the return on Carolina better.
Tampa didn’t exactly outplay Carolina. They simply had the better netminder in Andrei Vasilevskiy. As long as they’ll have this edge in goal, I can see why they remain favorites. But the Hurricanes have remained one step faster than the Lightning.
Carolina has outshot Tampa in all three games and gained the edge in the corsi metrics. Both teams have been neutralizing each other’s power play, so this is mostly a battle between Carolina’s superior skaters or Tampa’s elite netminder.
I’ll go with the Hurricanes here to continue outplaying the Lightning and lighting up Vasilevskiy this time.
Pick: Carolina Hurricanes to win
Flames Make It Two Straight
The Flames won the battle of backup goaltenders on Monday with David Rittich stopping all 34 of Toronto’s shots for the shutout. Rittich came in to dispel an exhausted Jacob Markstrom who was taking it on the chin in his recent starts.
An interesting note in this season series, which Toronto leads 2-1-0, is that the team that has been outshot has won in all three instances. Toronto controlled the puck and outshot Calgary on Monday but the Flames made more of their scoring chances.
Speaking of chances, this is where the Flames have an advantage over Toronto. They have generated more scoring chances (65 against 59) and have the edge in corsi at 51.8%. And despite his struggles, Markstrom will match Frederik Andersen in goal.
I believe this is more of a 50/50 matchup here with the Flames using their physicality and defensive savvy to close the gap against Toronto’s speedier and more skilled forwards. Take the Flames at dog money.
Pick: Calgary Flames to win
Ducks Exact Revenge
I’ve been a sucker for using stats to determine NHL matchups, but this is one of those where you gloss through the numbers think, “who cares?” This West Division rivalry continues to heat up as Monday night’s scorcher showed.
A total of 46 penalties in minutes (PIM), including four fighting majors, were handed out when the two teams got heated. The Coyotes needed to overcome a three-goal deficit to steal one from the Ducks.
Ducks’ goaltender John Gibson wasn’t at his best, but neither was Dary Kuemper. Both teams are in each other’s heads, but you have to give it to the Ducks on this. The Ducks have been a tad more physical than the Coyotes. Maybe they’re overcompensating for their lack of goal scoring prowess, but it’s working.
I’m picking the Coyotes to win based on being better at scoring. But from a betting perspective, I can’t trust that juice on them. Expect another physical affair here and take the Ducks to come out as underdogs.
Pick: Anaheim Ducks to win
Parlay: Hurricanes to win, Flames to win, and Ducks to win
This new divisional format isn’t half bad. We get some great hockey between great teams playing at least seven times and the rivalries are getting renewed. Almost every hockey game has a playoff atmosphere, even without fans.
These NHL betting picks are siding with the dogs as I expect these games to continue getting chippy as these teams are evenly matched and fighting for the same thing. Alternatively, you can bet each time individually, but with this parlay you’re looking at a return that is over 11-1!
