Mark Lammey
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Heading into the weekend, we’ve got a solid 6-game slate. It’s not often every matchup looks set to be a great one, as the majority of them feature evenly matched teams. However, there’s still value to be had. We’re going to avoid the first couple of matchups and certainly aren’t going to trust the Chicago Blackhawks, but the other contests have solid angles. We’ve pieced together our favorite ways to play those matchups for a mega parlay that will cover the rest of your bets for the weekend.
Along with our NHL mega parlay, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today’s action.
Tampa Bay Lightning 3-way ML (+110) over Winnipeg Jets
The first face off we’re focused on is up in Winnipeg. The Jets are hosting the Lightning, who are looking to bounce back from a recent loss. It certainly wasn’t a good look the way they lost to the Minnesota Wild by multiple goals. However, that was the second night of a back-to-back, and they’re still 7-3-0 in their last 10. That has them working their way up the Atlantic Division, as everyone is chasing the Boston Bruins. The Jets have matched Tampa’s win total of 24 with a recent win over the Calgary Flames.
There’s no doubt that this will likely be a hard-fought game and likely a sweat. You know what they say, scared money doesn’t make money. Being in different conferences, these teams don’t meet often and they split last year’s matchups. Interestingly enough, they each took turns beating one another by final scores of 7-4. It’s unlikely we’ll see a repeat of those high-scoring games, as the Lightning are allowing just 2.47 goals per game since the start of December and just 2.2 per game since returning from the Christmas weekend. That’s the 2nd-best in the NHL, and should propel them to a win tonight.
Calgary Flames -1.5 (+135) over New York Islanders
The first reaction when seeing these teams face off is a low-scoring game. These teams may not be quite as dominant in terms of goaltending as they were last season, but they’re still both allowing fewer than 3 goals per game. The Flames are coming into this matchup having been a part of games with 5 or fewer goals in each of their last 5. They won 3 of those, and even held Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to just 2 goals in their first game back after the short Christmas break. Rather than focusing on the total, however, there’s better value in backing them to win this game.
That’s because the Islanders will be coming into this matchup having played the Oilers last night. Unsurprisingly, they had starting goaltender Ilya Sorokin in net, who is one of the best in the league. That gives the Flames a much better opportunity to get hot and find the net against a fatigued New York team that will be playing their 4th straight road game. The last time they took an extended road trip far from home, they lost to the Arizona Coyotes and were shut out 2 games later. Calgary still needs to find more consistency, but tonight should be a step in that direction.
Be sure to check out our NHL player props for tonight’s action – we went 2-0 last night!
San Jose Sharks vs Anaheim Ducks – Over 6.5 (-105)
After touching on the total in that previous matchup, now we’re officially going to target one. However, we’re expecting quite the opposite here. Despite neither team being overly impressive, there should be plenty of goals in this matchup. The last time these teams met was just under a month ago, and they actually cashed a best bet for us that was also on the over. This is about trusting the offenses of these struggling teams to outweigh the poor goaltending that is struggling even more.
In their 3 matchups this season, they have already combined for 11, 9 and 7 total goals. Since the start of December, the Sharks have allowed 4.08 goals per game, the 2nd-most in the NHL. The Ducks recent win may have fans jumping with joy, as they did indeed shut out the Dallas Stars. The odds that anyone has a bet slip that predicted that is astronomical. Anaheim is still the 3rd-worst team in the NHL with just 11 wins, and are still the most goals per game throughout the season (4 per game). Given these teams have already proved they can score on one another, we’ll back that trend to continue.
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Friday’s NHL mega parlay (1/6)
Lightning 3-way ML (+110)
Flames 1.5 (+135)
Sharks vs Ducks – Over 6.5 (-105)
Parlay odds +863
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