It’s yet another stacked Saturday slate of NHL betting action featuring 12 games with 24 of the 31 NHL teams taking the ice. Here are my Saturday NHL plays on this massive card.
Nashville Predators @ Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning don’t lose two games in a row very often but that’s the case here with the Lightning looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats against Columbus and Carolina. Tampa Bay doesn’t really have much to panic about despite two losses in a row. The Lightning outplayed the Hurricanes on Thursday night in spite of the 1-0 loss in OT as Tampa Bay had the edge in the expected goals 2.68 to 2.55 and also a 16-11 edge in high quality scoring chances in that game and for the season overall, the Lightning are up 57-34 in high danger scoring chances generated against their opponents in the first five games of their season. That takes some of the concern out of the fact the Lightning have been held to 3 goals combined in their last two games. The Lightning top line has been fantastic with Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat combining for 7 goals and 15 points in five games but some of the other forwards have gotten off to a slow start to the season offensively in particular Tyler Johnson who has just a point in four games.
Nashville snapped a three-game losing streak by notching back-to-back wins against Chicago but the Predators were not very impressive in either victory. The offense is very lackluster and the power play is 1-for-17 to start the season. The defense and goaltending for Nashville declined significantly last season which was part of their quick and early exit from the bubble for the Predators in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.
I’m not sold on a return to form for the Predators at that end of the ice. The Predators have struggled on the penalty kill surrendering 10 goals in 22 shorthanded situations in their last five games. Nashville has a pair of wins against Columbus and Chicago this season and they were fortunate to escape with wins against the lowly Blackhawks in those two home games played earlier this week. Their games against ‘step up in class’ competition resulted in a loss against the Carolina Hurricanes and two losses against the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Stars. Tampa Bay is +23 in high danger chances margin while Nashville is -5 in that category. Tampa Bay is the superior team and they are primed to show it. I like Tampa Bay to bounce back strong with a home win against Nashville. The Lightning are the superior team and in a maximum focus spot after two straight losses, I expect them to show it. I’ll be betting Tampa Bay on the puck line.
Tampa Bay PL -1.5 +140
Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Rangers
The winds of change may not necessarily be a good thing for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they were blindsided by the sudden departure of General Manager Jim Rutherford who resigned from his position earlier this week. In the first game after the chaos in the front office erupted, the Penguins looked like a flat and lethargic group on Thursday night against the Boston Bruins as they were thoroughly dominated in a 4-1 loss. Sidney Crosby was held off the scoresheet in both games against the Bruins and Evgeni Malkin continues to struggle to make any type of impact as he has registered just a single goal and 3 points in eight games.
The Pittsburgh offense flatlined in the two losses to the Bruins while their defensive effort has been porous and the goaltending very shaky. The Penguins are ranked 29th in the NHL allowing 3.75 goals per game and now they will try to shut down what has the potential to be a very offensively dynamic and potent New York Rangers team that should enter this matchup with much more confidence and pep in their step.
The reason for that is the NY Rangers got a much-needed win to snap a four-game losing streak against the Buffalo Sabres in overtime on Thursday, with the game-winning goal coming from the #1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft taken by the NY Rangers Alexis Lafreniere giving him the first goal of his NHL career in a magical moment of sorts.
New York could be and probably should be better than their current 2-5 record indicates. Three of those four consecutive losses for the Rangers prior to the win against the Sabres were games the Rangers lost despite holding leads in each game. The Blueshirts simply couldn’t find a way to close out those games and play a full 60 minutes. All the elements of the NY Rangers game were better on Thursday as they got timely scoring and played a very smart and responsible defensive game. The Rangers allowed only 3 high danger chances to Buffalo which was their best defensive effort in a single game since their shutout win against the NY Islanders back on January 16th. New York lost twice to Pittsburgh last week on the road and both losses came in a similar fashion with the Rangers coughing up a lead and losing by a goal each time. They were frustrating losses because the Rangers played well enough to win both games. I think the Rangers earn a little bit of payback here against the slumping Penguins.
NY Rangers +100
NY Rangers Team Total Over 3.5 -120
Vancouver Canucks @ Winnipeg Jets
The narrative in the media is that the Vancouver Canucks have found their game again and gotten back on track with their dominating three-game home sweep over the Ottawa Senators. Vancouver won those three games by a combined score of 16-3 but before buying into it, you may want to consider just how badly the Senators are playing right now. Ottawa is 1-7 on the season and they have given up 36 goals on the season to this point which is tied with Vancouver for the most goals allowed across the league.
Prior to the three consecutive wins against the Senators, this was a struggling Vancouver team that had lost five of their previous six games and had surrendered a whopping 31 goals during that span to the likes of Montreal, Calgary, and Edmonton. There is no doubt the Canucks made some progress with their sweep over Ottawa. They got Alexander Edler on the blue line back from injury and he is by far the team’s best defenseman in terms of preventing goals and playing in the defensive zone while Thatcher Demko in particular gave this team a boost with his strong goaltending in his recent starts. All that said, the Canucks have not proven they can beat a quality foe yet and they will be facing one here in the Winnipeg Jets who have played some really good hockey early this season.Â
The Jets have seen no drop off in their offensive explosiveness this season even after trading away Patrik Laine last weekend. Winnipeg is 3rd in the NHL in scoring averaging 4 goals per game. The top line of Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Blake Wheeler have combined for 10 goals and 27 points in the team’s first seven games. However, the real catalyst for Winnipeg has been the creative line juggling by head coach Paul Maurice to elevate Andrew Copp to the second line alongside Paul Stastny and Nikolaj Ehlers. The trio has taken off (no pun intended) piling up 20 points in the last three games for Winnipeg.
The Jets are 5-2 to begin the season and the two losses were to Toronto (the best team in the North Division currently) and Edmonton in a game where the Oilers stole the victory scoring twice in the final 3 minutes of the game to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win. This bet is quite simple for me…until Vancouver proves it against a better team, I’m content betting against them in this reasonable price range. It’s worth noting Winnipeg has owned Vancouver going 14-2 in the last 16 meetings including 10-1 in the last 11 here in the Peg. Expect more of the same here. I also like this game to go over the total with the Jets scoring 3+ goals in every game this season and each of the last three Winnipeg games have gone over the total while Vancouver is 7-3 to the over this season.
Winnipeg -120
Vancouver/Winnipeg Over 6 -115
