NHL Picks for 2/14
No football no problem. I have spent the morning looking at these hockey games for tonight, and I'm not exaggerating when I say there are some great bets to be made out here tonight.
Devils at Blue Jackets
Devils -135
New Jersey has the best road record in the NHL at 19-3-3. Star center Jack Hughes participated in the morning skate but looks unlikely to play tonight. We won't need him. The Devils beat Seattle easily last week before losing 3-2 in a shootout in Minnesota. I think we get a motivated Devils team tonight with the vibes high in anticipation of Hughes coming back.
The Blue Jackets suck. They'd lost four in a row before somehow winning 4-3 in Toronto. It seems like a team bouncing back vs a team ready for a letdown.
Panthers @ Blues
Panthers -130
Over 6.5 -130
Florida has scored 20 goals over their past five games, plus both of these teams are averaging over three per game. Both teams are also in the top 10 in goals allowed, ranking 6th and 10th in the league so far.
These are two teams going in opposite directions, but the last time they played we got nine goals.
The Panthers are 4-1 in their last five games, St. Louis just the opposite at 1-4. Prior to the six-goal explosion vs a terrible Coyotes team, the Blues had scored only seven goals in the previous four games.
Kraken @ Jets
Jets -125
Under 6 -110
Seattle is on the last game of a five game road trip out east, they're 1-3 thus far. They lost to the Devils 3-1, then went to NY and lost to the Rangers 6-3 before winning in Philadelphia.
The Jets are 19-8 at home, fifth best in the league, they have the superior goaltender, and they're rolling. Winnipeg has recently dispatched two bad teams with ease against St. Louis 4-2 and Chicago 4-1.
The shots are about even, Seattle gets a couple more on goal per game but the Hellebuyck between the pipes evens that out.
The Jets also have the edge in power-play situations. Winnipeg's scoring percentage is three better and their penalty kill is 13 better at 83%. This shapes up to be a grueling game decided by grit and goaltending.
Lightning at Avalanche
Lighting -125
The Avs have scored just six goals over their past three games. They just got home from a road trip, and that's been a bad spot for them. Colorado has had seven road trips of 2+ games this season, and in that first game back home they're 2-5 so far.
This is the situation we have tonight with the Lightning coming to town. Tampa is 13-12 on the road, not fantastic but nothing to be afraid of. The difference in the game tonight is the injury report. Colorado has four players out tonight, two being defensemen and one being Cale Makar.
Brad Marchand
Over 2.5 Shots On Goal -120
Marchand shows up for his team on the road. In 22 home games he has 52 shots on goal, but in 22 road games he has 67. His last five games he's put 4, 4, 2, 1, and 5 shots on goal. This is a huge game vs the Dallas Stars, he'll show up.
Brandon Montour
Over 2.5 Shots On Goal -160
We like the over in this game so we must believe there will be a lot of shots taken. Montour is another guy who plays a little better on the road. He's averaging 2.68 shots per game at home, but 3.13 on the road. More than that, the kid has been absolutely firing the puck as of late. Here are his total shots for the las five games:
3-3-5-4-7
Best of luck if you hop on board, let's dive into this hockey!