NHL Picks

The Anaheim Ducks make the third stop on a four-game road trip against the Ottawa Senators. Remember, with a 1 p.m. ET puck drop, that’s 10 a.m. PT local time for the Ducks, so they could get off to a sluggish start. The Ducks opened the trip fine, topping the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Tuesday, but they were beaten 6-4 by the skidding Toronto Maple Leafs. It also lost Radko Gudas to a five-game suspension for a knee-to-knee hit on Toronto captain Auston Matthews, so perhaps that’s a bit of a distraction for the Ducks, who will have a little less sandpaper in the next week or two.

The Senators topped the Ducks 3-2 in Anaheim on Nov. 20 as a moderate favorite (-145) in the first meeting, and Ottawa has won four of the past seven in the series, including two of the past three at home. The Under has a 6-2-1 edge in the previous nine meetings, including the first meeting this season, just in case you were looking for a same-game parlay (SGP) possibility. Ottawa has won three of the past four games, while picking up at least one point in 11 of the past 13 games, going 9-2-2, with 20 out of a possible 26 points. Let’s roll with the Sens, especially with the early puck drop time.

Senators ML (-160) at time of publishing. Playable to -170.

The Boston Bruins have been cooling off a little bit lately, including a 4-2 loss against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. It is 1-2-1 in the past four games, but that lone victory for Boston is a 3-1 win at TD Garden against the Capitals, as Jeremy Swayman bested Logan Thompson. While the B’s are 0-1-1 in the past two games, including a regulation loss to the Sharks, the Bruins haven’t lost back-to-back games in regulation since losing three in a row from Dec. 21-27. Swayman and the B’s have won each of the first two meetings with the Caps this season by a 3-1 score, including the regular-season opener Oct. 8 in D.C.

For Washington, it just scratched out a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on the road. In the past, that might not have been a big deal, but the Sabres are first place in the Atlantic Division. The Caps have won two of the past three games, and the Under is 4-1 in the past five games, and 9-2 across the previous 11 contests. The Under is 7-1 in the past eight in the series, too. The Under is 5-2 in the past seven games for the Bruins, too. With the early puck drop, let’s look for the goals to be at a premium, especially early in the game.

Under 6 (-105) at time of publishing. Playable to -110.

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The New York Rangers are in Minnesota to take on the Wild on Saturday night. After struggling to score goals throughout the season, New York has found a groove offensively in the month of March. Through 6 games so far this month, the Rangers have scored 29 total goals — which equates to a strong per-game average of 4.83. Mika Zibanejad has picked up the slack with Artemi Panarin now in Los Angeles, as Zibanejad has 9 points on 3 goals and 6 assists in March. New York has also gotten strong depth scoring from the second and third lines, and those contributions will be needed when going up against a high-flying Minnesota team.

The Wild already had an extremely potent offense with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, but the move to bring in superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes made the Wild immediate Stanley Cup contenders. Hughes has been stellar with his new team, as he has racked up 43 points in 34 games with Minnesota. He is riding a 6-game point streak entering this matchup, and his efforts are a big reason why Minnesota now ranks third in the NHL with a powerplay percentage of 28.3%. The Rangers are also a top-10 powerplay team, ranking eighth in the league with a conversion rate of 24.1% on the man advantage. Given the way both of these offenses are rolling, the over is the play.

Rangers vs Wild prediction: Over 6.5 (+110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Los Angeles Kings will be playing the second leg of a back-to-back situation when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Los Angeles is coming off a 3-2 victory over the Islanders on Friday, marking the fourth time in the last 5 contests that this team has scored at least 3 goals. With L.A.’s offense in decent form and New Jersey having emerged from its power outage, my Kings vs Devils pick is Over 5.5. Darcy Kuemper was the Kings’ goalie on Friday, which means Anton Forsberg will almost certainly get the nod on Saturday. Forsberg’s season save percentage of .904 is nothing special and 4 of his last 5 appearances have resulted in at least 6 goals being scored — including 2 games with 9 goals and another with 10 (a 6-4 setback against Las Vegas on February 25).

Another relatively high-scoring affair for Anton and company should be in store against New Jersey. The Devils returned from the Winter Olympics break and scored 1 goal in each of their first 2 games — both losses. Heading into Saturday, however, they have lit the lamp at least 4 times in 4 of their last 5 outings. Gold-medal hero Jack Hughes has scored 4 goals (including a hat trick) and dished out 2 assists in the past 3 contests. Luke Hughes has delivered an assist in 3 of the last 4 games and he also scored once during Thursday’s 5-4 loss to Calgary. Count on both teams contributing to the over in this matchup.

Kings vs Devils prediction: Over 5.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars are set for a Saturday night showdown at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Stars have been rolling offensively of late, but are still playing without Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz. They still have plenty of strong scoring depth to lean on, but not having Rantanen, Hintz and Tyler Seguin in the lineup due to their respective injuries makes it difficult to expect the Stars to keep scoring at such a high clip. Detroit’s John Gibson has been a steady force between the pipes this season, and he is more than capable of slowing Dallas down.

On the other side, Dylan Larkin’s injury looms large for Detroit. Larkin will be out at least two weeks after suffering a lower-body injury on March 6 against the Panthers, and his absence is a crucial one. Not only is Larkin Detroit’s captain and emotional leader, but he is also among the most consistent offensive players in the league. Larkin is second on the Red Wings with 28 goals and 3rd with 55 points this season. That kind of production will certainly loom large against a Dallas team that is solid defensively. This has the makings of a lower-scoring game, which makes the under the play.

Red Wings vs Stars prediction: Under 5.5 (-105) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.

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The Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks are set to meet for the fourth and final time this season on Saturday night. The Canucks claimed the first meeting back on December 29, with the Kraken winning the next 2 matchups on January 2 and February 28. Heading into the series finale between these Pacific Division teams, the Kraken have dropped 4 games in a row and have been bumped from the Western Conference playoff picture. Trailing the Kings by 2 points for the final wild-card spot in the West, look for the Kraken to enter this matchup with a heightened sense of urgency. They handled the Canucks easily 5-1 in their last meeting — and despite their recent skid, they should enter this matchup with confidence.

Neither of these teams light up the scoreboard offensively, but the Kraken own the edge defensively. The Canucks are allowing an NHL-high 3.68 goals per game, whereas the Kraken are 12th by giving up 2.98. Seattle plays a much more stingy defensive style of play, which should be able to stymie a Vancouver team that is scoring the second-fewest goals per game in the league at 2.52. Furthermore, the Canucks have struggled on home ice all season. They are just 7-20-5 at Rogers Arena and have just 1 win over their last 6 home games. With so much more to play for, let’s back the Kraken on the road.

Kraken vs Canucks prediction: Seattle ML (-130) available at time of publishing. Playable to -135.