Check out the Betway Insider's NHL picks and predictions page for best bets throughout the 2020-21 NHL season.
If you had placed a $10 single on every one of Chris's picks this season, you'd be $704.30 in profit.
Montreal Canadiens to beat Edmonton Oilers 2.00
The Canadiens pushed the Oilers to overtime in their previous game on Monday night, but couldn’t get over the hump. The Habs certainly don’t want to go into their postseason series with the Maple Leafs on a long losing streak. They’ve lost four consecutive games, but have at least been competitive in most of them.
Closing out the season on home ice against an Oilers squad that doesn’t have much to lose at this point seems to set the Habs up well to end their regular season on a relatively high note. Especially since they’ve played Edmonton tough all season. Montreal is a surprising 5-2-1 against the Oilers so far this season and are 2-1-1 on home ice against McDavid’s bunch.
The Habs cannot move up or down at this point - they will not move past the Jets regardless of the result. You’d still have to think they want to put their best foot forward in this one, even though it’s just playing out the string.
Ottawa Senators to beat Toronto Maple Leafs 2.60
The Maple Leafs just want to get through this game and the next against Winnipeg without getting injured. They also want to see if Frederik Andersen will be ready to go for the playoffs, though the net may already belong to Jack Campbell for the run by now. Andersen will start Wednesday’s game for Toronto, his first action since March. It’s hard to know if he’ll be sharp or rusty.
Andersen is 1-2-1 against Ottawa with an .874 save percentage. The only team he’s done worse against this year is Calgary. So this could be a challenge for the Danish netminder as he returns to action.
Meanwhile, Ottawa continues to play alike a team with nothing to lose. They had a great game against Winnipeg before getting roasted on the road by the Calgary Flames. This is the last game of the season for this group and they’ve given Toronto some trouble over the course of the season. The two clubs haven’t squared off in a month and you know the young and hungry Sens are going to want to get the W in this one.
Ottawa has won five of its last seven games and will probably play this game as hard as any they have all season to head into the summer with some positivity and also dash the Leafs’ slim hopes at capturing the Presidents’ Trophy as regular-season champions.
Colorado Avalanche to beat Los Angeles Kings 1.28
Teams tend not to go out of their way to win the Presidents’ Trophy, but Colorado can do it with a couple of wins over the Kings as they hold the tiebreaker against the Vegas Golden Knights who can finish with no more than 82 points. The Avs are two points back with a game in hand.
They probably would like to guarantee home ice in the postseason, too. The Avs are the league’s second-best team on home ice with a points percentage of .808 thanks to a 20-4-2 record. So, there’s something else to play for in this game.
Additionally, Colorado is 5-1-0 against Los Angeles this season, though the games have been largely low-scoring affairs with Colorado scoring 17 goals over those six contests and Los Angeles scoring 11.
The Kings probably wouldn’t mind playing spoiler as they continue to get more game reps for their young players and look to hit the back end of their rebuilding years and start focusing on competing a bit more seriously. Even so, Colorado has more reason to play with some intensity and they’ve dominated the season series so far.
Vegas Golden Knights to beat San Jose Sharks 1.50
The Golden Knights don’t really control their own destiny as much as they could have had they not lost to Colorado on Monday. The Avs played with a lot of passion and pace in that game, and managed to get past the Golden Knights.
That actually puts a little pressure on Vegas as they head on the road to take on the San Jose Sharks, who are probably already looking forward to getting this long, difficult season over with. They also haven’t had much fun playing Vegas this season.
The Golden Knights are 7-0-0 in the season series and have outscored the Sharks 27-14. This is the only team Vegas has been perfect against this season and I’m sure they’d like to keep it that way as they look to maintain their chance to have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
With the Sharks just playing out the string and the Golden Knights having a little something on the line here, I’d expect them to finish the job and stay perfect against San Jose.
BOOSTED DOUBLE: Montreal and Ottawa both to win 6.00
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