There are 9 games in the NHL on Thursday, with all 4 division leaders in action. We have gone through the matchups for the night and have picked out 3 teams to parlay that will pay out just over 11/1 with BetMGM sportsbook. But before we dive in, be sure to check out all of our picks and previews for every game tonight. You can also follow Pickswise on Twitter for plenty of daily betting content.
Let’s break down each leg:
The Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders just played on Tuesday, where the Islanders came away with a 4-3 victory. The Islanders will more than likely be playing without their starting goalie, Ilya Sorokin, as he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. This is a big blow to the Islanders, as the Blue Jackets are a decent offensive team who rank just outside the top-10 in goals per game. The bigger advantage for the Blue Jackets is that this will be the Islanders’ 8th game in 12 days. With so much hockey being played in a short time and their backup goalie starting, place your bet on the Blue Jackets money line.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for the Columbus Blue Jackets vs New York Islanders
Thursday night’s game against the Calgary Flames will be the second stop on the Los Angeles Kings’ 3-game road trip and their second in as many nights as they played the Edmonton Oilers yesterday. The Flames find themselves with a comfortable lead over the Kings for 1st in the Pacific Division and a Calgary win would place a little more distance between the two teams.
The Flames rank in or near the top-5 in most major offensive and defensive categories, including rostering a top-10 goalie in Jacob Markstrom. Playing this team is hard enough and the Kings will be doing just that with little rest. Look for the Flames to jump all over a tired Kings team to pad their lead in the Pacific Division. Take Calgary on the puck line.
The San Jose Sharks wrap up a 2-game road trip on Thursday when they play the Colorado Avalanche. The Sharks will be playing their second leg of back-to-back games, as they were in Arizona the night before, playing the Coyotes. These two teams played about two weeks ago, a 5-3 Avalanche win, but the score was deceiving as a few late goals by the Sharks made the game seem closer than it was.
The Avalanche are the best team in the NHL and are the first team to 100 points. The Avalanche rank 2nd in goals per game while the Sharks have a borderline bottom-10 defense as they rank 24th in expected goals against and 20th in goals against per game. Lean on the Avalanche at home to take advantage of a tired Sharks team with a bad defense and place your bet on the Avalanche to win by 3 goals or more.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for the San Jose Sharks vs Colorado Avalanche
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