NHL Opening Night Best Bets: 3 Picks for September 29, including Panthers, Maple Leafs & Oilers
It’s finally here! The 2026-27 NHL season is about to have its first puck-drop, and it’s with a high-profile Eastern Conference clash of Panthers vs Hurricanes. So, why not enjoy some NHL best bets today? Those two teams lead the way in terms of Stanley Cup favorites, and opening night culminates with the team Carolina beat to end last season - the Vegas Golden Knights. As they host Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks, Opening Night is set to be an awesome five-game slate.
Along with our NHL best bets today, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today’s action.
NHL Best Bets Today: Nikolaj Ehlers 1+ Point (Odds TBD)
We’re not going to make you wait at all and are kicking things off with the aforementioned Panthers vs Hurricanes season opener. In their recent preseason clash, we didn’t see Carolina feature their stars, while Florida featured a healthy Aleksander Barkov. That said, we won’t have Brad Marchand as part of our NHL best bets today.
It’s the Tkachuk brothers - Matthew and Brady - being together that fans are going to want to target, but we’ve got a ‘Canes player prop on our radar. The price tag provides more value than the chalkier pick of Sebastian Aho, and Ehlers still had four points in three games vs. Florida last season. On top of that, they no longer have two-time Vezina Trophy between the pipes, so after nine points in the Stanley Cup Final, we’re starting our NHL best bets today with Nikolaj Ehlers to record a point.
Be sure to also check out our overall Panthers vs Hurricanes predictions for Opening Night
NHL Best Bets Today: Maple Leafs Money Line (-110)
If you prefer to stick with basic game markets instead, we’ve got you covered there as well. However, it may be the one of our NHL best bets today that is the most difficult to click. Montreal is coming off their impressive Eastern Conference Finals runs, while the Leafs continue to disappoint fans in Toronto.
The benefit of their lackluster campaign (paired with some luck) was landing the #1 overall pick, where they unsurprisingly snagged Gavin McKenna. We also can’t forget that Auston Matthews will be back healthy to help the Leafs cash more NHL best bets today, and the duo of William Nylander and John Tavares is still strong. That’s all without mentioning the big offseason acquisition - Sergei Bobrovsky.
Goaltending has most often been the biggest concern in Toronto, and the former Florida Panthers netminder has won two Stanley Cups AND two Vezina Trophies. With that experience does come the concern of age, but Montreal also isn’t a team that wins by lighting up the scoreboard. Roll with the over instead if you’d like, but we’re going to add to our NHL best bets today with the Maple Leafs ML.
NHL Best Bets Today: Oilers -1.5 / Oilers Team Total Over 3.5
Let’s get some of the later, Western Conference action in here by checking out the Canucks vs. Oilers matchup. Both Edmonton and the Vegas Golden Knights are heavy favorites on home ice in their respective matchups, and rightfully so. Money lines don’t provide much value for NHL best bets today, but they’re far from the only approach to take.
Vancouver was arguably the worst team in the NHL last season allowing the most goals per game, and if there’s one thing that the Oilers have, it’s firepower. The duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl has never been questioned when it comes to cashing NHL best bets today - their goaltending has always been what’s held them back. Well, Vancouver doesn’t have the offensive fortitude to take advantage of that weakness, having scored the second-fewest goals per game last season and doing virtually nothing to improve that in the offseason.
That’s why we’re providing you with both of these approaches; The last two meetings between these Pacific Division foes were 6-0 and 6-1 wins for the Oilers, so there is no going wrong with adding either of these to your NHL best bets today.
