The NHL schedule on Tuesday is an absolute heater with quality matchups throughout the entire evening. One of the more fun ones is an Atlantic Division tilt between the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings, a pair of Eastern Conference competitors above the .500 mark at the moment. These teams just met on Saturday with Boston claiming a 3-2 win, but will tonight bring a different result?
Here’s a Bruins vs. Red Wings prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday’s contest.
Bruins vs. Red Wings prediction, preview
Boston Bruins
The Bruins didn’t exactly enter the season with the highest of expectations, so the surge to second in the Atlantic Division does have to feel quite good. However, their 30 points fall sixth in the conference and a goal differential of -3 doesn’t exactly spark a ton of confidence yet. Boston’s attack sits 17th with 3.00 GF/GP, leaning primarily on David Pastrnak (29 P) and Morgan Geekie (26 P). However, the former won’t be available as he remains out with an undisclosed injury, and key defenseman Charlie McAvoy will spend the foreseeable future on LTIR. In positive news, Viktor Arvidsson could return on Tuesday to supply second-line help alongside third-leading scorer Pavel Zacha (17 P), but there’s really not a ton of firepower here overall. Boston ranks 20th with 3.19 GA/GP with Jeremy Swayman playing quite well as the primary netminder (2.62 GAA, .915 SV%). You may not guess it, but the groupings on special teams are a strength at fourth in PP% (25.43) and ninth in PK% (83.0%).
Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings have 28 points on the campaign with a 13-11-2 record, a fairly respectable mark to this point for another franchise with low expectations. The -12 goal differential is actually the worst in the Eastern Conference though, and they’ve dropped four straight games at that. The team has some studs at the top with Dylan Larkin (29 P), Lucas Raymond (27 P) and Alex DeBrincat (26 P) all producing at a PPG pace, and three other skaters have between 12 and 16 points. However, there’s little meaningful depth here and it shows at 22nd in GF/GP (2.88) and 25th in GA/GP (3.38). The blue line struggles, as does the goalie tandem of Cam Talbot and John Gibson as neither have a SV% better than .888. While the power play hits at a 21.2% rate, good for 13th in the NHL, the penalty kill sits 23rd at 78.9%. The Red Wings are clearly outmatched in those facets of the game, but with Pastrnak and McAvoy out, Detroit should be able to hang around.
Bruins vs. Red Wings pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Red Wings as -198 favorites on the Moneyline tonight, while the Bruins come in at +164. The total sits at 5.5 combined goals.
As mentioned earlier, Boston did win the first matchup between these two teams over the weekend by a 3-2 margin. That one went to a shootout at TD Garden after Detroit surged to tie with two goals in the third period, and it’s worth noting that Pastrnak didn’t play then either. While there’s more (healthy) high-end talent on this Red Wings roster, there’s a rather notable gap between the play in net for both sides. Swayman appears revived this season after last year’s struggles and enters on a very hot streak with a 1.76 GAA and .945 SV% over his last five games. Talbot likely gets the starting nod for the home team with a 3.19 GAA and .871 SV% in his own five most recent appearances, so he’s not nearly as warm.
The Bruins are shorthanded, but if the blue line holds up in front of Swayman, they can escape with another win. It’s a tough test with Detroit averaging a smidge over 30 shots per game, but he’s performing like one of the best netminders in the game and the advantage he provides is significant enough to pick Boston straight up.
