NHL Daily Gambling Preview – 3/30/22

I had a solid night on the NHL yesterday, going 8-3 to win 3.79 units on the big slate. Tonight we have a six game slate. Let’s make it three winning days in a row!

Sabres vs. Jets (7:00)

My Buffalo Sabres have been SO much fun to watch lately with a lot of young pieces that seem to have found their way to become the future core of this team. They have a 6-1-2 record in their last nine games improving to 24-33-10 on the season. On Monday night they came back from down 4-0 to end up beating the Blackhawks 6-5 on a crazy bounce with just 12 seconds left in the third period in Chicago and the Sabres five games prior to that went to overtime. They might not be that good of a team, but they’re staying in games and they’re refreshingly entertaining team to watch every night lately. Statistically on the season, the Sabres haven’t been great on either on the ice. We’re averaging just 2.7 goals per game, eighth fewest in the NHL but in their last four games the Sabres have scored an average of 4 goals per game. Defensively, they haven’t been good either, allowing an average of 3.51 goals per game, seventh most in the NHL. The Jets have played well lately too with a 10-4-1 record in their last 15 games to go to 32-25-10 on the season, coming off back to back overtime wins against Arizona and Columbus. They have been quite inconsistent this season though. Winnipeg is averaging 3.06 goals per game and allowing an average of 3 goals per game. Tonight they’ll be without Kyle Connor and Nate Schmidt, who are both in COVID protocol (didn’t think that was a thing anymore, but whatever). In Winnipeg on December 14th, the Sabres got a nice 4-2 win on the road against the Jets. I’d slightly lean the Sabres win this one at home tonight but that might be a bit of a hometown bias. I keep cashing Sabres +1.5 puck lines and I like that again tonight. The problem though is the price of it at -220 tonight. I’ll get a little bit creative with it and go with half a unit on a same game parlay of the alternate over 5.5 and the Sabres +1.5. I’ll also take the alternate over 6 by itself for half a unit.

Red Wings vs. Rangers (7:30)

Last night the Rangers got a solid 3-2 win in Pittsburgh for their third straight win (which hit my under bet on that game). They’re a great team with a 43-19-5 record and have five wins in their last six games. They’ve scored an average of 3.01 goals per game but have been very good defensively, allowing a third fewest in the NHL average of 2.57 goals per game. On the second half of a back to back with Igor Shesterkin starting last night, the Rags will go with Georgiev in goal tonight. He’s won each of his last three starts but hasn’t been great this season with a lousy 3.08 GAA and .894 save percentage and hasn’t fared well in most of his games this year. That being said, that shouldn’t matter much tonight as they have a pretty easy matchup against the struggling Red Wings. Detroit’s been horrible lately, on a three game losing streak and just two wins in their last 15 games to drop to 26-32-8 on the season. They haven’t been terrible at home though where they have a 17-12-5 record. The Red Wings have scored even less than the Rangers have, averaging 2.82 goals per game. They’re the worst team in the NHL defensively though, allowing an average of 3.8 goals per game. At MSG on February 17th, the Red Wings actually got a 3-2 shootout win against the Rangers on the road. I don’t see them winning again though and even with Georgiev in goal with the Rangers on the second half of a back to back, I still like the Rangers to win tonight. I’ll go with a half unit each in this game on the Rangers ML and the over.

Oilers vs. Kings (9:30)

The Oilers bounced back from their embarrassing 9-5 loss in Calgary in the Battle of Alberta on Saturday (winner for me) with a dominant 6-1 win against the Coyotes (another winner for me). They’re a very inconsistent team with a 37-25-5 record with just two wins in their last five games but a 7-2-1 record in their last ten. McDavid (98 points, 62 assists) and Draisaitl (96 points, 48 goals) have been incredible, as expected this season and even with the lack of offense behind those two, the Oilers are averaging 3.43 goals per game, seventh most in the NHL. They’ve sucked defensively, allowing an average of 3.22 goals per game, eleventh most in the league. The Kings have struggled quite a bit lately, coming off a 6-1 loss at home to the Kraken on Monday night (made me pretty much break even instead of having a big winning night) and they have a 4-4-2 record in their last ten games. They’re 36-23-9, currently sitting in the second playoff seed in the weak Pacific two points ahead of the Oilers. On the season, they’ve only scored an average of 2.81 goals per game, twelfth fewest in the NHL. The Kings have been pretty good defensively though, allowing a ninth fewest in the NHL average of 2.77 goals per game. They’ve struggled on the back end recently, averaging 3.6 goals per game in their last five games. These two Pacific Division playoff teams split their two previous games this season, with the road team winning both games, a 5-1 Kings win in Edmonton on December 5th and a 5-2 Oilers win in LA on February 15th. I like the Oilers to win at home tonight, but don’t think the ML is worth it at -210 and will take the Oilers in regulation for half a unit. I’d expect this game to be high scoring too and will take the over for half a unit as well.

Canucks vs. Blues (10:00)

These teams just played on Monday in St. Louis where the Blues got a 4-1 win for their second win of the season against the Canucks after getting a 3-1 win in Vancouver on January 23rd. The Blues have been playing pretty bad lately with a 4-6-3 record in their last 13 games. They’re still a pretty good 36-20-9 on the season and they’re currently sitting a point out from Nashville for the third spot in the Central, holding a Wild Card spot in the West. On the year, the Blues have been a good team on both ends of the ice. They have the fifth highest scoring offense in hockey, averaging 3.51 goals per game and they’ve allowed an average of 2.85 goals per game, eleventh fewest in the NHL. Ville Husso’s been good in goal for them, one of the biggest improvements from last year and he has a 2.38 GAA and .924 save percentage. The Canucks are struggling lately as well with just three wins in their last ten games and they’re 32-27-9 on the season. They’ve been good this season defensively, allowing just 2.82 goals per game, tenth fewest in the NHL. Thatcher Demko’s a solid goalie with a 2.66 GAA and .917 save percentage. Vancouver’s sucked offensively though, scoring just an average of 2.79 goals per game, eleventh fewest in the NHL. I’d lean the Blues win this game on the road and would lean the under as well, but neither enough to bet on so I will just skip this game.

Coyotes vs. Sharks (10:00)

The Coyotes are back to playing horrible hockey lately, coming into tonight’s game on a six game losing streak (after they had gone on a 6-1 stretch before that) to drop to 20-41-5 on the season. They’ve scored the fewest goals in hockey, an average of 2.53 goals per game and they have allowed an average of 3.58 goals per game, fourth most in the NHL. The Sharks have sucked too at 29-28-8 and only have eight wins in their last 25 games. They’ve been decent recently though with three wins in their last four games. On the season they’ve struggled on both ends of the ice as well. They’re averaging just 2.63 goals per game, fifth fewest in the NHL and allowing an average of 3.11 goals per game. The Sharks won both games these teams played this season in San Jose with an 8-7 shootout win on December 28th and a 4-2 win on March 20th. I’d slightly lean they win again but not enough to bet on them. I’ll take the over in this game for half a unit.

Kraken vs. Golden Knights (10:00)

The Kraken got a great 6-1 win in LA on Monday night (loss for me that made me break even on the night instead of making a big profit) for their third win in their last four games. They’ve sucked this inaugural season though with a 21-39-6 record and they were big sellers at the trade deadline, getting rid of a bunch of assets for draft picks. They have been horrible on both ends of the ice. Seattle has the sixth lowest scoring offense in the NHL, averaging just 2.64 goals per game and they’ve allowed an average of 3.52 goals per game, sixth most in the NHL. The Golden Knights are coming off an electric win on Saturday afternoon where they came back from down 3-0 to beat Chicago 5-4 in overtime with the game winner from none other than Evgenii Dadanov who’s trade got cancelled by the league office. I still think that whole thing was bullshit but so far its working for Vegas as he has 5 points in their two games since the trade got cancelled. Because of that though, Vegas will have a tougher time getting into the playoffs and won’t be able to activate Mark Stone and Alec Martinez before that playoffs due to their cap situation. The Knights are currently 36-8-4 and they’re on the outside looking in on the playoffs, a point out from Dallas for the last Wild Card spot in the tight Western Conference playoff race. They have four wins in their last six games, getting shut out in the two losses against the Jets and Wild. They have definitely struggled without Stone and they only have eight wins in their last 21 games. On the season they’ve averaged 3.12 goals per game and are allowing an average of 3.02 goals per game. The Knights won both of their previous games at home against the Kraken with a 4-3 win on October 12th and a 4-2 win on November 9th. I’d lean they win this one again here. I’ll go with a half unit each on the Golden Knights and the over.

Game Bets

.5u SGP: Sabres +1.5 & Sabres/Jets over 5.5 (+155)

.5u Sabres/Jets over 6 (-127)

.5u Rangers ML (-134)

.5u Rangers/Red Wings over 6.5 (-112)

.5u Oilers in regulation (-127)

.5u Oilers/Kings over 6.5 (-105)

.5u Sharks/Coyotes over 6 (-105)

.5u Vegas ML (-155)

.5u Vegas/Kraken over 6 (-120)

Record: 617-466-23 (-7.54 units)

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