Wednesday night's slate gives us five games to choose from, so I have picked threee matchups that I feel hold the best value for NHL bettors. Check out my NHL picks for these games, as we try to maxamize out our NHL betting payouts.
Lets check out some of tonight's biggest games and cover the NHL picks I find to have the best chance of in cashing for us as the sportsbooks.
Montreal Canadiens
vs. Buffalo Sabres
NHL Odds: Sabres -165
We’re going to take a flier with the Buffalo Sabres on
the puck line in a game where they should get the win, but don’t want to lay
the juice in case they flop (see: Sharks-Ducks pick on Monday).
The Sabres have won four of the five meetings already
this season and are just two points out of a playoff spot. Without question,
they need this game. If they have any prayer of making the playoffs this
season, they need to figure out ways to beat teams like the Habs, who are last
in the Eastern Conference.
Leaning on goaltender Ryan Miller might help. He’s 7-1-2
in his last 10 starts with a 2.15 GAA. He’s also 5-0-1 with a 1.31 GAA against
the Canadiens in his last six starts. On the flip side, Carey Price has just
one win in his last seven starts against Buffalo and just three in his last 10
overall.
Admittedly, it’s a bit of a shot in the dark laying the
puck line with Buffalo, but the payout is worth it. The Habs have quit in many
games down the stretch of the season so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them
do it again.
NHL Picks: Sabres
-1.5 +180
Vancouver Canucks
vs. Chicago Blackhawks
NHL Odds: Blackhawks -110
The full preview of this game can be seen in the NHL
section and although in that version, the prediction for the game was the over,
it’s tempting not to take the Blackhawks on the side here too.
Without question, this game is a coin flip and betting
against Vancouver when they’re facing elite teams is not ideal. Even so, it’s
hard to pass up the Blackhawks for two reasons: they’re playing better and they
have home-ice advantage.
The Blackhawks come into this game on an 8-1-1 streak
while the Canucks have just three wins in their last 10. The Blackhawks have
also won 25 of 32 games at the United Center, which indicates a significant
advantage.
A sports pick on this game might be a coin flip, but the price reflects
that. If we had to lay some reasonable juice one way or the other, it might
sway the pick. At -110, the Blackhawks two key advantages should lead them to a
win.
NHL Picks:
Blackhawks
St. Louis Blues vs.
Anaheim Ducks
NHL Odds: Over/Under 5
We’ve been ripping on the Anaheim Ducks for quite some
time now as they’ve been riding goaltender Jonas Hiller harder than Kenny
Powers rides his fastball. The good news is that Hiller finally got the night
off on Monday, and should be rejuvenated to get back between the pipes on
Wednesday.
The St. Louis Blues are always a threat to go under
whenever they play but Wednesday’s affair should be especially the case given
how good Hiller has played recently. And while the Blues are 10-2-1 in their
last 13 games, they haven’t been scoring much. They’ve scored 37 goals in that
span, which is a bit above average for them, but still not so overwhelming.
The Ducks have a five-goal outburst in their 5-3 win over
San Jose on Monday but prior to that, they had notched just 20 goals in their
previous 11 games. This looks like a good spot to take the under to the sportsbooks.
NHL Picks: Under