It’s an eight-game slate in the National Hockey League tonight with several intriguing contests on the board, most notably the nightcap between the Bruins and Golden Knights in Vegas.
We’ve stayed on the sidelines ourselves since opening the season with a pair of winners last Wednesday for +2.4 units.
We’re back tonight with a situational play that we like a lot, along with a couple of leans that nearly made our bet list as well.
If you’re a new follower this season, look for the betting tips to ramp up in a couple of weeks once we’ve got enough data on each team to make more confident plays and situational advantages become more frequent.
Thanks for reading along, and good luck on whatever you play.
Odds below are at the time we made the pick.
We’re getting a bit of a discount price on the Penguins following the news that Evgeni Malkin will probably be out for at least a month, joining Nick Bjugstad and Bryan Rust in the infirmary. That’s a lot of firepower on the shelf, but Pittsburgh’s still got plenty of capable scorers — as the Pens showed off Saturday. Five different players scored goals in Pittsburgh’s 7-2 win over the Jackets, and that was without any point contributions from Malkin or Bjugstad.
Saturday’s blowout win was also a great sign for a Penguins squad that started the season with a clunker, losing 3-1 at home to Buffalo. Head coach Mike Sullivan is still more than capable of getting his team’s attention, and we think he’ll have it again here as Pittsburgh is forced to move forward without Malkin in the lineup for the foreseeable future. “Whenever players go down, it always provides an opportunity for someone else to step up. That’s just the nature of our business,” Sullivan told reporters. It also helps that the Penguins have a strong track record of success in the past when star players have been unavailable due to injury, whether it’s been Malkin, Sidney Crosby or Kris Letang.
Winnipeg looks like the perfect foil for a motivated Pittsburgh team to enjoy success tonight. The Jets’ back end is an absolute mess right now, with an injury to #1 defenseman Josh Morrissey (he’s expected to play tonight, but can’t be at 100% NOTE: He’s since been ruled out) exacerbating an exodus of blue line talent during the offseason and Dustin Byfuglien sitting out to consider his future. It’s no coincidence that the Jets have allowed 14 goals through their first three games, and the four they allowed Sunday on Long Island could have easily been worse if not for a strong game by Laurent Brossoit in net. Connor Hellebuyck returns to the crease tonight searching for answers (he told reporters he “liked a lot of his game” in last week’s 6-4 loss at the Rangers) and under the pressure of a growing goalie controversy in Winnipeg, which doesn’t seem ideal for a breakout performance here — especially visiting a city where the Jets franchise hasn’t won since 2006.
We’ll officially play the Penguins -0.5 in regulation time tonight, but the Pittsburgh Team Total Over 3.5 is also available at a similar price (-107 at Pinnacle) and is worth a look as well.
Bet this game at BetOnline – 50% Free Play to $2,500!
LEANS
Oilers +0.5 (regulation time) -112
Predators Team Total Over 3.5 +112
Good luck!
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