Tuesday night brings a Frozen Frenzy to the NHL slate with the entire league in action across the evening. With so many games to choose from, we’re honing in on some of the top matchups of the schedule. The Utah Mammoth are shocking the sport at the top of the Western Conference’s Central Division, but a matchup against the Edmonton Oilers will put their mettle to the test.
Prepare for the action with a Mammoth vs. Oilers prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday night.
Mammoth vs. Oilers prediction, preview
Utah Mammoth
With an NHL-best 16 points and a seven-game winning streak, perhaps all Utah’s hockey franchise needed to succeed was a cool new name. The Mammoth aren’t even just beating up on bad teams as wins over the Avalanche and Jets stand out among this scorching start to the campaign. The offense ranks third in scoring with an average of 3.70 GF as Nick Schmaltz steps into the role of a franchise star. The 29-year-old’s 16 points leave him tied for the lead among all NHL skaters while Clayton Keller’s 12 are second on the team. The growth from young talents Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther with 11 points each is also a very encouraging sign for the long term, and JJ Peterka has notched nine points himself. Utah’s power play ranks 14th (22.2%), but the defense has also truly shined with 2.40 GA per game, tied for second-best. Those factors make up for a penalty kill that’s a little bit lacking at 72.7%, and goaltenders Karel vejmelka and Vitek Vanecek have also played quite well with GAAs below 2.50 and respective SV% marks above .905.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers are known for some slow starts so it’s not too concerning to see them at 4-4-2 thus far. Recent momentum hasn’t been on their side though after dropping two straight contests, and they’re surprisingly outside the top-20 teams scoring with just 2.90 GF per game. Edmonton’s power play does hit at a 31.0% rate, one of the league’s best, and the typical suspects lead the team’s offensive production — Connor McDavid leads with 12 points followed by Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 11 each. However, there’s a large drop-off after those three with Darnell Nurse and Vasily Podkolzin the next-closest with five points apiece. The Oilers are 16th with 3.10 GA per contest and the penalty kill comes in at 80.8% as well. While Stuart Skinner has managed a 2.31 GAA and .903 SV%, he’s 2-3 while backup Calvin Pickard’s 3.50 GAA and .846 SV% are less than encouraging. Sure, early results don’t scream contender, but the Oilers are always impossible to rule out on any given night.
Mammoth vs. Oilers pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Oilers are favored at -148 to win on the Moneyline. The Mammoth hold +124 odds to win outright on the road with a total of 6.5 goals.
What happens when a red-hot underdog meets an underperforming power? The results will prove quite interesting, but the value clearly lies on Utah tonight. There’s not a huge difference between the number of shot attempts each team takes and allows, and Edmonton does see the edge in FOW% (51.6% to 45.6%). However, the Mammoth are shooting 12.3% to the Oilers’ 10.0% and will surely know to get Skinner moving laterally to better target his weaknesses. This game may come down to special teams, and while it feels wrong to pick against the Oilers’ superstars, Utah just keeps on stringing together wins with better production outside of its top couple guys. With plus value on the visitors, I’ll be taking their lines tonight and hoping they can keep shocking the world with another standout victory.
