NHL picks: 4 best bets for Thursday
Chris Peters makes four money line picks for Thursday night's NHL action.
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Panthers to beat Senators
The Panthers have been on a stunning three-game losing streak. Teams go through these types of down periods, but all three losses have come on home ice. The Panthers had only lost two games at home all season previously. After playing six games over 10 days, Florida just got multiple days between games to rest, recuperate and reset for the first time in a while. The Ottawa Senators might be arriving to South Florida a little too late.
With losses in four of their last five games, the Sens still haven’t been able to string wins together. They lost 5-2 to Tampa on Tuesday to start off their five-game American road trip and now have to head south to play the Panthers who are probably beyond licking their wounds from this latest losing streak.
Florida has lost four consecutive games only one other time this season. As one of the top teams in the NHL and with No. 1 goalie Sergei Bobrovsky expected to start, I’d expect them to win easily. That said, the Senators actually handed the Cats their worst loss of the season back on December 14 when Ottawa won 8-2. The Panthers didn’t have Bobrovsky or Aleksander Barkov playing in that game, though. Expect a different story Thursday night.
Canucks to beat Islanders
The Canucks picked up one of their worst defeats of the season against the New Jersey Devils on Monday as they lost 7-2. While that was an ugly loss, it came just after three consecutive big wins and amid a streak where Vancouver had won six of their previous nine games.
One of those three losses, however, was to these very New York Islanders, who beat the Canucks 6-3 on February 9. Anders Lee had a goal and an assist in the game, while Ilya Sorokin stopped 34 of 37 shots he saw. Now they’ll have the benefit of home ice.
I still like the value on the Canucks as an underdog here. They have not lost consecutive games since late January and scored three or more goals in all but two of their games in the month of February. The Islanders pose a significant challenge, but I like the Canucks’ chances of bouncing back after an embarrassing loss.
Oilers to beat Blackhawks
The day after the Oilers last played the Blackhawks, they had a new head coach. That came after a 4-1 loss to Chicago which put Edmonton on its back foot. Since then, the Oilers have won seven of 10 games. That included an impressive shutout by Mikko Koskinen against Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, have lost five of their last seven games since beating the Oilers, including a 4-0 loss to the Blues on Sunday. This game is very much between two teams heading in vastly different directions at this point.
The Oilers have revived their playoff push and are surging, but they’re going to need to take care of Chicago, which will be well-rested and on home ice. Compared to the rest of the schedule Edmonton has played of late, Chicago is the weakest team they’ve seen, probably since they last played the Blackhawks. Being that battle-tested and under a new head coach, I think this game will have a very different ending compared to the last one.
Flames to beat Canadiens
The Habs have been playing a lot better since Martin St. Louis took over, but are coming off of a road contest where they gave up eight goals against a woefully inconsistent Winnipeg Jets squad. Prior to that, Montreal had won five straight games with youngsters Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki driving the bus offensively.
They’re about to head into a buzz saw, though. The Flames are the hottest team in the NHL with wins in 12 of their last 13 games. Calgary just absolutely rolled over a very good Minnesota Wild squad, earning 7-3 and 5-1 wins in a home-and-home series.
With the exception of one little hiccup against the Canucks, the Flames have been largely unstoppable. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Canadiens come out of this road contest with a win without playing a perfect game.
BETWAY SUPER BOOST: Canucks, Oilers and Flames all to win