This Thursday has 13 games in play with nearly every team in the league in action. Despite the mammoth slate, we don’t have a ton of heavy favorites with the Florida Panthers — who are road favorites of -245 on the Moneyline — sitting with the shortest odds in the Moneyline market. Both the Bruins at Rangers and Wild at Hurricanes have puck totals of 5.5 with the rest of the games seeing totals of 6.0 or 6.5. Teams that played last night include the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, and Tampa Bay Lightning. Below are some of the NHL best bets to target for Thursday, Jan. 19.
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Flyers Puck Line (-1.5) +125
The Flyers come into this game having won eight of their last 10 games. Philadelphia has been one of the bigger surprises of late and has shown an improved offense over the last month or so, scoring three or more goals in 12 of their last 14 tilts. That’s great news for today as they’ll face a Blackhawks team that sports one of the weakest goaltending combos in hockey.
Chicago's likely starter, Petr Mrazek, has just a .877 save percentage and plays behind a defense that has ceded the ninth-most high-danger scoring chances in the league to date. Despite squeaking out some wins against high-quality teams of late, this run by the Blackhawks seems far less sustainable than the Flyers. They’re ranked last in xGF% and have just a 1-17 record against the Flyers in Philadelphia over their last 18 meetings.
For our Puck Line bet, it’s also good to know that the Flyers’ increased scoring has led to them winning by multiple goals at a strong rate. All seven of Philadelphia’s last seven wins have now come by two goals or more. The plus-money on the offer for the Flyers to cover in this spot looks more than fair.
New Jersey Devils @ Seattle Kraken
Over 6.5 goals (+100)
This game features two of the most prolific offenses in the league. The Devils rank second in xGF% this season (expected goal for percentage) and have been one of the best teams at creating chances 5-on-5. New Jersey has seemingly gotten past their mid-season slump and has now won five games in a row to move back within striking distance of first in its division. The run has been impressive from an offensive standpoint as the Devils haven’t scored less than four goals in each of their last five starts. That’s led to a lot of games with big goal totals and the last six Devils’ games have seen seven or more goals scored combined.
Seattle won’t go down easy, however. They’ve been up near the league leaders in offense all season and currently rank fourth in goals scored per game. Neither of these teams have elite goaltending we need to worry about either with both Seattle netminders currently sporting save percentages under .900.
With the odds still sitting at even money, betting on these two elite offenses to put lots of pucks in the net today looks like a solid play.
St. Louis Blues vs Nashville Predators
Blues Money Line -105
This game has a close spread but it slightly favors the Predators, which is interesting as they’re the road team and this game will be their fourth game in six nights — and third game in four nights. Fatigue spots are worth keeping track of in NHL betting and the Predators haven’t been great in these spots over the last couple of seasons. Nashville has just a 2-5 record in the last game of a 4-games-in-6-nights schedule and is also just 5-11 in their last 16 games of a 3-in-4 scenario.
Nashville’s offense is also a concern after they could only manage two goals against the Blue Jackets in their last game and they haven’t scored more than three goals in a game over their last seven starts. St. Louis is streaky but they’ve been solid against Nashville as of late, having won four of its last five meetings against them.
The Blues have grabbed some quality wins of late and with them being better-rested and at home, the fact we can grab -105 odds on them to win straight up makes them the top target in this spot.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.