The Sharks and Ducks look primed to shock the hockey world along with seven other exciting east matchups Thursday night
Thursday night has one of the biggest hockey lineups on the week with nine East coast games all looking to excite hockey fans. Some exciting matchups of the night will be top seven offenses going at it in the red hot Oilers travelling to Detroit to take on the Wings, the beat-up Devils look to still put up a fight against the Lightning and the Penguins top three home defense looks to stop the freight train Canucks offense.
So many games means so many opportunities to win big and if you want to get in on the action and put some skin on the games, here are some of the best bets for the nine East games this evening.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Please gamble responsibly.
Anaheim Ducks @ Carolina Hurricanes
A lot of the teams near the bottom of the league get a bad rap for being thought of as the worst of the worst. When in actuality, they can keep up with any team on any given night. The Ducks had bursts of great play this season but have now fallen to 14-25-1 on the season. They are counted out most nights, which has worked to the advantage of betters as they are 22-14 against the spread this season when listed as an underdog. The Hurricanes have been hot lately but the Ducks should be able to cover as they have won or lost by at least two goals in 32 of their 40 games this season.
Pick: Ducks +2.5 (-190)
Edmonton Oilers @ Detroit Red Wings
Two of the best offenses in the league go at it looking to drive out of Motor City with a win. The key player in this one should be Zach Hyman, who has seven goals and ten points in their last seven games. The Wings potent offense has been fun to watch but it doesn’t help when their backend is giving up the seventh-most goals this season with 3.40 per game. McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins should help make plays and get Hyman on the board at least once.
Pick: Zach Hyman over 0.5 points (-180)
Los Angeles Kings @ Florida Panthers
The Cats have been rolling with eight straight wins with their last four all coming on the road. They return home to take on another dominant road team in the Kings, who broke the record at the beginning of the season with most road wins to start a season with 11 straight wins. Since then, they have a 2-3-2 record on the road with losses to the Capitals, Islanders and Lightning. They have a great history versus the Cats though, with six straight wins along with five wins in their last seven trips to Amerant Bank Arena. The Kings should bounce back but in a low-scoring game with the Panthers allowing the fifth-fewest goals per game over the last two weeks with 1.83 on average.
Pick: Under 6.5 goals (-140)
New Jersey Devils @ Tampa Bay Lightning
The Devils are banged up to say the least, missing seven key players from their lineup with Jack Hughes, Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton headlining the injury report. It begs the question of how they will be able to score? Erik Haula, Colin Miller and captain Nico Hischier led the offense in the Devils loss to the Canucks last Saturday and still managed to score four goals. The Lightning will have Vasilevskiy in net, which may scare gamblers away from the Devils but Tampa has been leaking in goals all year with the sixth-most goals against per game behind the Devils.
Pick: Over 6.5 goals (-125), Lightning -1.5 (+160)
Ottawa Senators @ Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres are tied with the third-worst home record in the league with the Blackhawks. It’s pretty bad company to be in but the Sabres are top eight in fewest-goals per home game (2.84) and top ten in most-goals against per home game (3.32) this season. The Senators are not great either as they did have a potent offense that ranked top ten in scoring for most of the season before now falling to below league average with 3.11 goals per game tied with Columbus. Both teams could explode against each other's mediocre defenses but it seems like the kind of game, where neither team has had an offensive rhythm.
Pick: Under 6.5 goals (+115)
Seattle Kraken @ Washington Capitals
Since mid-December, no team has a better point percentage than the Kraken, who are riding a 9-0-2 record in their last 11 games heading into their Caps matchup. Washington has been on the other side of the spectrum with a 2-4-2 record in their last eight games. The Capitals have let things on the backend get out of hand as they are being outscored 33-18 on their losing skid. The Kraken should certainly be able to get past expected starter Darcy Kuemper, who has a 3.24 goals against average and has given up three or more goals in five straight starts.
Pick: Kraken ML (-120), Kraken over 2.5 goals (-165)
San Jose Sharks @ Montreal Canadiens
The Sharks have lost 12 straight games traveling into the City of Saints with just one win on their mind. The Habs have been all over the map, when it comes to using their home ice to their advantage with huge wins over the Rangers and Kraken or losing to bottom of the barrel teams like getting blown out by the Sabres. The Bell Centre hasn’t seen the same Habs team for some time now with their Canadiens having the second-worst home record in the league since the 2021-22 season even behind the likes of the Sharks, Blackhawks, Sabres and Coyotes. They struggle at home and the Sharks will come into this game more hungry for a win than ever.
Pick: Sharks ML (+140)
Toronto Maple Leafs @ New York Islanders
Both teams have nine wins since the start of December with virtually identical records with the Islanders having one more regulation loss during that span. Both teams have been prolific scoring units with the Leafs sitting third and the Islanders in tenth for goals per game. The Islanders have also seen the over in goals hit in 11 of their last 19 home games and in three straight matchups versus the Leafs.
Pick: Over 6.5 goals (-120)
Vancouver Canucks @ Pittsburgh Penguins
The Canucks have been one of the most offensive teams in the league this season with the most goals per road game this season and are tied with the Bruins for ninth in fewest goals against per road game. They have been a train rolling through anyone who gets in their way with their top line of Elias Petterson, JT Miller and Brock Boeser dominating even the toughest defenses in the league, combining for 35 points in their last 11 games. The Penguins will look to slow them down as they have the third-best home defense in the league only allowing 2.42 goals per home game this season. The Penguins should find a way to break them up and not fully hold them off but enough for expected netminder Alex Nedeljkovic to keep them under four goals.
Pick: Canucks under 3.5 goals (-155)