This week in the NHL brought plenty of drama and chaos both on and off the ice thanks to Friday’s trade deadline. The weekend now begins with a 7-game slate, featuring a few true heavyweight bouts. Though the deadline will have passed by the time the first puck drops on Friday, the drama and intrigue continues into the weekend.
If you will be tuning in and want to have some action, I’ve picked out my NHL best bets for Friday, with lines and odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook at the time of publishing. Also, be sure to check out all of our NHL predictions for every game throughout the season, including all 11 matchups today.
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NHL best bet: Red Wings 3-way ML over Panthers (+105)
The hockey world has seemingly collectively waited for the Panthers to hit that next level and completely disrupt the Eastern Conference playoff picture. That just has not happened. While injuries are almost completely to blame for the disappointing results this season, it is no less frustrating that Florida finds themselves 10 points out of a playoff spot and in second-to-last spot in the conference. The Panthers have dropped 9 out of their last 11 games, will be on the 2nd of road back-to-backs as part of a 4-game road trip in 6 days, and have to play one of the best teams in the East.
Meanwhile, the Red Wings have enjoyed a much-revitalized season. Detroit occupies a top-3 spot in the Atlantic division, but they still have plenty of incentive to continue collecting points as their playoff spot is not remotely guaranteed. The Red Wings have come out of the Olympic break in good form, as they are 2-1-1 against solid opponents. The advantage Detroit has on the ice of just purely being the deeper, more healthy team. They also get home-ice advantage. Florida is pointless in their last 5 road games and is just 14-15 on the road this season. It will not get any easier in the finale of their tough road trip with a lot of hockey in a short amount of time.
NHL best bet: Canadiens vs Ducks over 6.5 (-122)
This is the first of 2 games that will be played between these teams in a 9-day span. The matchups promise to be exciting, as both of these teams are electric. The Canadiens score the 3rd-most goals per game in the NHL and have the 7th-best power play. It is not as clean on the other side of the puck, as they allow the 9th-most goals per game and have the 6th-worst penalty kill. The strength of goal scoring and weakness of goal prevention has been good for overs in Montreal games this year.
It is not much of a different story for the Ducks. Anaheim has plenty of goal-scoring talent, but they really struggle on the defensive side of the puck. They rank 30th in goals allowed per game and 23rd on the penalty kill. The Ducks have either scored or allowed 5 goals in each of their last 2 games, as part of a stretch in which they have scored or allowed 4 goals in 8 out of their last 10. Further, their game totals have averaged 7.0 over their last 10 games. The over is 37-24 in Ducks games this year and 19-12 at home. For their opponent, the over is 37-21-2 and 19-10-1 on the road. Team strengths, weaknesses, recent trends, and a wide range of outcomes look great for another over.
Read our full Canadiens vs Ducks prediction
NHL best bet: Sharks ML over Blues (-135)
The Blues are stars of trade-deadline week for reasons they would not prefer. A disappointing season has St. Louis evaluating all possible options for selling assets for the future. In addition to the distraction that all of the rumors and activity causes off the ice, they have an uphill battle in this one against a plain better team. San Jose has 9 more points than St. Louis, they score more goals per game than the Blues, and have better special teams. Ultimately, this is a matchup between a playoff contender and a draft lottery contender. The Sharks are a tough fade in this one.
San Jose enters this game on a 3-game winning streak, as well as 4-1 both outright and against the spread in their last 5 home games. The home road splits favor the Sharks in a big way as they are 17-10-3 at the friendly confines this year, and host a Blues team that has lost 10 out of their last 12 road games as part of a 9-17-3 road record. Another aspect to keep an eye on is Blues roster turnover ahead of the trade deadline. It appears likely that at least one of their regular rostered players will be moved, forcing them to plug in some roster holes with this one, hampering any depth they have. This one sets up great for the Sharks.
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