It’s a full day of NHL hockey today, beginning with a couple of early starts on the east coast, continuing with a pair of mid-afternoon contests and then concluding with seven evening games.
There was a fair bit of sweating involved, but we managed to eke out a winner yesterday on the Lightning/Golden Knights Under 5.5 yesterday to move to 3-0 on the week. Tampa scored three goals in the first 25 minutes and Vegas pulled within 3-2 early in the third period, but neither team found the net again as the Knights outshot what has to be a tired Tampa team 13-1 in the final frame.
Not much time on a busy Saturday as one of us hosts a Halloween party this afternoon, so we’ve had to abbreviate today’s post to just writeups on our two bets, along with a list of our leans in the other games. Good luck on whatever you play.
Odds below are at the time we made the pick. Be sure to check out our live odds page for updated odds on today’s games.
We wrestled back and forth on this one between the full-game Over and the Sabres Team Total Over. Regardless of whichever way you end up deciding to go on this game, we do think Buffalo’s got the potential to pot at least 3 tonight.
The Sabres are playing with a lot of confidence offensively at the moment, having scored 13 goals in their last 3 games and coming off a 4-3 come-from-behind win over Montreal on Thursday night. They’re also playing pretty well in general, outshooting their last 2 opponents by an 87-50 margin and last three by a 113-70 edge.
Meanwhile, the Jackets don’t look like their normally sound-defensively selves lately, having allowed 4+ goals in 5 of their last 6 outings. They’ll turn to Joonas Korpisalo and his 3.29 GAA/.898 save percentage here, and he isn’t exactly the ideal candidate to slow down a hot opposing attack. Columbus will probably get their share of goals here too (they’ve scored 5+ in 4 of their last 7), but if the Over 5.5/6 is going to cash here, it’s often involves getting 3 goals from each team. We’ll back Buffalo to get at least 3 tonight at plus money.
Just when you think the Blues are starting to figure it out, they crap the bed the way they did Thursday at home to Columbus. Coming off a win at Toronto and an overtime loss in Winnipeg, St. Louis roared out to an early 2-0 lead over the Blue Jackets, only to end up seeing Columbus score 7 of the next 9 goals and skate off with a 7-4 win.
Mike Yeo enjoyed immediate success when he took over the Blues a couple of years ago, but it’s certainly looking like St. Louis has tuned out their defensive-minded coach. He himself is admitting that his job should be in jeopardy, and we’re not sure that a hard practice like the one he put the Blues through yesterday is going to suddenly make them a defensive juggernaut again. St. Louis has allowed at least 3 goals in all but one of its games this season, and the Blues have been lit up for 4 or more on 5 of those 9 occasions.
Chicago might be the streakiest team in the NHL over the past few seasons when it comes to offense. When the Hawks go into a funk, they can go a couple of weeks without scoring more than a couple of goals in a game. But when they’re playing with confidence like they are right now, the Blackhawks can pile up the goals with consistency. Chicago has scored at least 3 goals in all but one of its games this season, averaging a robust 3.7 goals per game overall and an even 4.0 on the road.
These teams also have a tendency to play high-scoring and competitive games, having gone Under the total just twice in the last 17 meetings (11-2-4 to the Over). However, Chicago’s been playing pretty well in its own end since allowing 30+ shots in a period to Tampa Bay a few games ago (the Hawks have held their last 2 opponents to 2 goals and 44 shots combined). St. Louis may still get its share and even win the game, but our most confident read on this contest is that the Hawks will get a few of their own as well. For that reason, we’ll lay the -125 and back Chicago to light the lamp at least 3 times once again tonight.
- Jets/Leafs Under 6.5 -115
- Flames Moneyline -113
- Canucks Team Total Under 2.5 -103
Good luck!
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