Will the Avalanche’s puck prevention continue to be a problem tonight versus Anaheim? Will the Hurricanes post a road victory in Pittsburgh? And will Winnipeg shutout the lowly Sharks? Check out our Friday NHL Best Bet Predictions.
Thursday NHL Best Bets Recap
My three recommendations for Thursday night in the NHL were the Stars (-150) over the Capitals, the Kings (-130) over the Canadiens and the Islanders (-130) over the Blues. Dallas, which hadn’t lost a game on the season, of course fell last night, 3-2. The Islanders also fell 1-0 in overtime as the Blues’ defense showed up for the first time all season. The Kings, who defeated the Habs 4-1, were my lone victory.
After a decent start, my record has dropped to 15-15 on the season. A $100.00 bettor would now be down -$290.00, so I’ve got some work to do.
NHL Friday Best Bets: Carolina Hurricanes (-150), 7:00 p.m. ET
The Hurricanes have won seven out of their last 10 meetings versus the Penguins. Granted, Pittsburgh has scored six goals in back-to-back games entering play tonight. That said, the Pens scored those six goals against the Canadiens and Sabres, respectively. Not exactly the toughest competition. I like the Hurricanes to slow down that Pittsburgh scoring attack and post a road victory tonight.
NHL Friday Best Bets: Sharks/Jets under 6 (-125), 8:00 p.m. ET
In the previous 10 meetings between these two teams, the under is 8-2. These two teams met back in February and combined for a whopping one goal. When they met in early January of this year (last season), the two teams exploded for three goals. And back in December of last year, these two teams combined for three goals. So in three games, the Jets and Sharks totaled a combined seven goals.
The Sharks aren’t scoring this season, either. While they did post four goals in their season debut against the Blues, they followed up that performance by being shut out by the Ducks. They were held to two goals by the Stars and two goals by the Blackhawks in their other two games this season.
If the Jets don’t post a shutout tonight, it’ll be a minor upset. Nonetheless, I like the under in Winnipeg.
NHL Friday Best Bets: Ducks/Avalanche over 6.5 (-125)
Tonight is the night. Tonight is the night all hell breaks loose and the Avalanche put six on the board in an absolute rout. To start the season, the Aves are now 0-4. They’ve lost to good teams (Vegas and Boston), above average teams (New York Islanders) and not-so-good teams (Columbus). The one theme has been their goal prevention has been absolute trash.
Colorado allowed a whopping eight goals to Vegas in its season opener. The Aves followed up that performance by allowing six goals to the Columbus and another six goals to the Islanders. Two nights ago, they surrendered five goals to Boston.
As for the Ducks, they played in two low-scoring games to open the season but combined with Utah to register nine goals on Wednesday night. Everyone is scoring on Colorado right now, so I’m not overly concerned with Anaheim being able to pull its weight.