NHL Daily Gambling Preview – 3/20/22

Finally had a winning NHL day yesterday, going 5-2 for…wait for it…to win 0.1 units. The Wild put me in a hole to start the day coming one goal short of my TT bet and then I dug out of it, pretty much breaking even. Today we have a six game slate, let’s get some real wins here.

Flyers vs. Islanders (2:00)

Yesterday the cornerstone of the Flyers franchise for the past decade and a half, captain Claude Giroux was traded to the Florida Panthers to give him a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. The Flyers are having an atrocious season at 19-31-11 with just one win in their last five games and just six wins in their last 31 games. So its nice they gave Giroux a shot at success while getting back a great prospect in Owen Tippett and a first and third round pick. Philly has sucked on both ends of the ice, scoring an average of only 2.52 goals per game, tied with Montreal for the fewest in the NHL and allowing an eighth most in the NHL average of 3.43 goals per game. The Isles have been having a quite disappointing season as well with a 26-24-9 record but they’ve been playing good hockey lately. After their 4-2 win against Dallas at home yesterday, they now have a 5-0-1 record in their last six games. The Islanders have been awesome defensively all season, allowing a sixth fewest in the NHL average of 2.68 goals per game. They’ve struggled offensively, scoring a ninth fewest in the NHL average of 2.71 goals per game. These two teams towards the bottom of the Metro Division standings have already played three times this season and the Islanders are 3-0 in those games with a 4-1 win at home on January 17th, 4-3 shootout win the next night in Philly and then a 4-3 win again at home January 25th. I like the Isles to win here again today. I’ll go with a unit on the Isles TT over 2.5 in regulation, half a unit on the Isles TT over 3 and a unit on the Islanders moneyline. Let’s Go Isles!!

Capitals vs. Stars (5:00)

The Caps are playing great hockey lately, coming into today on a four game win streak with a 7-0-1 record in their last eight games to improve to 35-18-10 on the season. They’ve been very good on both ends of the ice this season, averaging 3.3 goals per game, tenth most in the NHL and they’ve allowed just an average of 2.78 goals per game, ninth fewest in the NHL. Dallas hasn’t been great lately, coming off a 4-2 loss to the Isles yesterday and they only have one win in their last five games, which came in overtime against the Habs. They have had a good season so far at 33-24-3 but haven’t been great on the road where they hold a 13-6-2 record. They’ve scored 2.88 goals per game on average and allowed an average of 2.97 goals per game. The previous game this season between these teams, the Caps beat the Stars in a 5-0 shutout in Dallas. With the Caps playing hot lately and the Stars slumping on the second half of a back to back, I like the Caps to win this one and will take them for a unit along with 2 units on the much too low Caps TT over 3.

Hurricanes vs. Rangers (6:00)

Carolina’s one of the best teams in the NHL at 41-14-6 with a 23-4-3 record at home but they’re coming into tonight’s game on a three game losing streak, most recently losing to the Caps in a shootout on Friday. The Canes are a top team in the NHL on both ends of the ice, allowing the fewest goals in hockey, an average of just 2.38 goals per game and scoring a ninth most in the NHL average of 3.31 goals per game. The Rangers have been a really solid team too with a 39-18-5 record. They’re coming off a big 2-1 win in Tampa yesterday with Mika Zibanejad scoring the game winner on the power play with only 16 seconds left in the game. The Rangers have only scored an average of 2.95 goals per game and they’ve been fantastic defensively, allowing a third fewest in the NHL average of 2.55 goals per game. That’s all on Igor Shesterkin’s incredible play in goal, which won’t be the case today with Alexandar Georgiev starting in goal for them on the second half of a back to back. Georgiev sucks with a 3.14 GAA and .892 save percentage, which won’t fare well for him against the Canes offense. The first time these teams played this season, Georgiev started for the Rangers as well (I believe Igor was injured at that point) and he was horrible in that game, with a .829 save percentage in a 6-3 Hurricanes win in Carolina. I like the Canes to score easily on him again tonight with the Rangers on the second half of a road back to back. I think the ML is too expensive here but I’ll go with a unit on the regulation line, 1.5 units on the Canes TT over 3.5 and half a unit on the over.

Blackhawks vs. Jets (7:00)

The Blackhawks blow. They’re 22-31-9 and they’re all but guaranteed to be sellers before tomorrow’s 3:00 trade deadline. Yesterday they lost 3-1 to the Wild (which started my day off with a loss that took all day to crawl out of since the Wild couldn’t score a fourth goal). They’ve been terrible offensively, averaging only 2.58 goals per game, fifth fewest in the NHL and they’ve allowed a ninth most in the NHL average of 3.4 goals per game. This could be Marc Andre Fleury’s final game in Chicago before he possibly gets traded tomorrow. The Jets are coming off a loss as well, losing 4-2 to the Bruins (winner for me) on Friday. They’ve been decent lately with a 6-3-1 record in their last ten games but have been quite inconsistent this season with their 28-24-10 record. Winnipeg’s averaged 3.02 goals per game and allowed an average of 3.03 per game, neither stat all that impressive. These teams split their two previous games with the Jets getting a 5-1 win at home on November 5th and the Blackhawks getting a 3-1 win in Winnipeg on February 14th. I like the Jets to win this one and will take them for half a unit tonight.

Sharks vs. Coyotes (7:00)

These are two pretty bad teams going against each other today. The Sharks are 26-27-8 on the season, coming into tonight’s game on a three game losing streak with just four wins in their last 18 games. They’ve scored just the third fewest goals in the NHL, averaging only 2.57 goals per game and they’ve allowed an average of 3.13 goals per game. The Coyotes are even worse in the standings with a 20-37-4 record and are coming off a 4-1 loss yesterday to the Penguins. They’ve been playing pretty good lately though with six wins in their last eight games. The Yotes are averaging 2.6 goals per game on the season, seventh fewest in the NHL but have been pretty good offensively lately, averaging 5.14 goals per game in their last seven. They’ve been pretty bad defensively all year, allowing an average of 3.54 goals per game, sixth most in the league. The first time these teams played was one of the highest scoring games of the season in San Jose on December 28th, with the Sharks winning 8-7 in a shootout. I’d slightly lean the Coyotes win this one but not enough to bet it. I’d also lean the over but not enough to bet it.

Canucks vs. Sabres (10:00)

Both of these team are coming off of games against Calgary in the last two days. In an absolutely incredible double shutout to watch, my Sabres beat the Flames 1-0 in overtime on Friday night for their third win in their last four games. This hasn’t been a fun season for Buffalo with a 21-33-8 record. The Sabres have been pretty bad on both ends of the ice, scoring an average of just 2.61 goals per game, seventh fewest in the NHL and they’re allowing a seventh most in the NHL average of 3.5 goals per game. The Canucks on the other hand lost to the Flames last night, losing 5-2 at home. Vancouver’s decent since hiring Bruce Boudreau and are 30-26-7 on the season but haven’t been playing great lately with just one win in their last five games. They’ve struggled to score too, averaging 2.83 goals per game on the season but they’ve been good defensively, allowing an average of 2.86 goals per game. The first time these teams played this season, the Sabres won 5-2 at home on October 19th. The Canucks are pretty much an entirely different team though now under Boudreau so I’m not putting much stock into that game. I’d lean Vancouver and the over in this game but not enough to bet on it, so I’ll skip betting this one.

Game Bets

1u Isles TT over 2.5 in regulation (-180)

.5u Isles TT over 3 (-134)

1u Isles ML (-162)

1u Caps ML (-170)

2u Caps TT over 3 (-167)

1u Carolina in regulation (-150)

1.5u Carolina TT over 3.5 (-132)

.5u Carolina/Rangers over 6 (-110)

.5u Jets ML (-140)

Record: 591-435-21 (+11.67 units)

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