The NHL has an 11-game slate on tap this Thursday. The game with the lowest over/under on the slate is Carolina at St. Louis, which boasts a 5.5 Total. The biggest favorite as of writing is the Dallas Stars, who are -285 on DraftKings Sportsbook at home vs. the Anaheim Ducks. From a matchup perspective, the game of the night is likely out in Pittsburgh where the suddenly hot Penguins take on the Vegas Golden Knights, who lead the Western Conference standings.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vegas Golden Knights
Penguins Moneyline -115
The Penguins come in off a tough OT loss to the Hurricanes, but overall, they have been a very solid team to bet on of late. The Penguins have won five of their last seven games and landed points in six of the last seven. They’re taking on a Golden Knights team today that is in the midst of a longer Eastern Conference road trip and has been losers in four of their last six games.
The Penguins will be without Kris Letang in this game but it’s their net-minding that has given them an edge of late. Tristan Jarry has gone 4-0-1 over his last five starts and stopped 36 of 39 shots faced in the OT loss. Pittsburgh also carries the better special teams (ranking eighth in penalty-kill %) and has been the better team at creating chances five-on-five recently. The Penguins are the home team but aren’t getting much respect in the odds as we can still get them at close to pick’em status. They’re the team to target tonight in a matchup between two upper-tier squads.
Colorado Avalanche over 3.5 goals -135
The Avalanche got shut out in their last outing and should be coming into this game slightly hot under the proverbial collar as a result. The Avalanche were shut out earlier in the season by the Devils and responded by scoring 20 goals over their next four games, so we’re likely to see a very concerted effort by the Avs offense tonight — who have scored four or more goals in seven of their last 12 starts. Tonight they face off against a Sabres team that is playing their third game in four nights and has allowed a total of 10 goals over their last two games combined.
We could look at the Avalanche puck line or the over on the game total today, but with Buffalo likely to start Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who carries a .857 save % and 3.95 GAA into this game, backing Colorado to go over a 3.5 team total feels like the best way to approach this matchup. Buffalo is also skating on tired legs in this one, which could mean limited output tonight from their forwards. Target overs on the Colorado Team Total in a great breakout spot for their offense.
Dylan Cozens over 2.5 SOG -105
The Avalanche have allowed an average of 33.1 shots on goal this season, making this a decent spot to back the red-hot Dylan Cozens. The Buffalo forward has scored four goals in his last four games and has shown far more aggression with his shot of late, landing 30 shots over his last seven games alone (for a 4.28 SOG average). Despite the big run of late, his SOG prop is still available at 2.5 with extremely good odds attached. Cozens remains in a top-six role for Buffalo and has averaged well over 20 shifts per game this season. Expect another night of heavy usage for a player who has been an over machine in this market over the past couple of weeks.
Kevin Fiala over 2.5 SOG -140
It’s taken a while, but Kevin Fiala is starting to look more comfortable with his new team. He heads into this game against the Coyotes off a four-point effort against the Kraken and is averaging 3.4 SOG over his last five games. Fiala has also seen his usage go up of late as he’s now averaging over 18.0 minutes of ice time and 23 shifts over his last five games. Given the Coyotes allow 35.1 SOG per game (third-most in the league), going over on 2.5 SOG with Fiala (and odds better than -150 attached) is still the right move. He’s also a good player to look at in the goal scorer department at +155 on DraftKings Sportsbook tonight as well.
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