The Kings are slated for a win in Saturday's Best Bets with wins in ten of their last 16 games and allowing the fourth-fewest goals per game since the All-Star Break
Saturday is the best night of the week for NHL action and tonight shouldn’t disappoint with 14 games that showcase some exciting matchups between two red hot teams in the Hurricanes and Leafs while the Kings look to stay hot against their rival Stars and the Lightning look to bounce back after being embarrassed in their last matchup against the Panthers.
It’ll be an eventful night and with so many games to bet on, you’ll want the most chances to make some big time profits. Lucky for you, we are riding a 10-6 record over the past few days and look to extend our winning ways into the weekend.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Please gamble responsibly.
Bet: Kings ML (+140), Kings Stars Over 5.5 goals (-140)
The third meeting between the Kings and Stars sees the betting lines very close despite Dallas having dominated the first two games and outsourcing their opponent nine to two. It should be a closer game this time around with the Kings starting to get on a roll with wins in ten of their last 16 games and allowing the fourth-fewest goals per game since the All-Star Break with a 2.33 average.
They may be catching the Stars at a good time as they have a worse 7-5-3 record since mid-February and their defense during that span having suffered with a 3.13 goals against average that was worse than the Blue Jackets. After so many losses in a season series, usually teams figure out a way to crack through their opponent and battle their way to a victory which should happen for the Kings as they’ve had trouble with the Stars for some time now with just one win over their last six matchups.
It’ll be hard to do it on the road but I expect the Kings to have their offense riding high after scoring five goals in a shutout win on Friday over Chicago and carry their momentum into a high-scoring battle in the Lone Star state.
Bet: Martin Necas over 0.5 points (-130)
The Leafs like to put on a show for their home crowd with the sixth-highest goals per home game average (3.56) while also allowing the eighth-most goals per home game (3.28) this season. Toronto fans will get a treat when they see the Hurricanes, who have been on fire with a 10-3-1 record over their last 14 games and have allowed the fewest-goals during that span with just 24 tied with Colorado.
It’ll be a tightly contested game with the Leafs also playing well with 12 wins over their last 15 games and have seen their offense hit another level with an average of four goals scored per game, which was the highest rate in the league during that span. Carolina will need to bring their best if they want to keep the game close and should bring plentiful opportunities for forward Martin Necas to get on the board.
Besides teammate Teuvo Teravainen, Necas has been the hottest Hurricane since the All-Star break with eight goals and 15 points over their last 18 games. He finds himself on a line with the two newcomers to the team in former Penguin Jake Guentzel and former Capital Evgeny Kuznetsov, who’ve both played under five games with their new team and will want to make an impact. It should be a high-scoring game, where the line of newcomers should get on the board and show how much depth this Hurricane team really has when it comes to offensive talent.
Bet: Panthers -1.5 (+150), Lightning under 2.5 goals (+105)
This interstate battle sets up to be one of the best matchups of the night but let us not forget the last time these two had met up. Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk had a dominant four-point showing in a 9-2 blowout that made for the Panthers fourth straight win over the Lightning. This matchup has been fairly one-sided as of late with the Panthers outscoring their opponent 23 to six in their four wins and could have a decisive win again on Saturday.
The Lightning have been mediocre since their beatdown at the hands of the Panthers with just five wins over their last ten games and find themselves inside the bottom ten of the league during that span in defense with 3.30 goals allowed per game.
It feels very much like a game people expect to be close and exciting but will just be another decisive win for the Panthers that further cements themselves as the favourite to win the President’s trophy and the team to beat in the East. Tampa Bay has a 10-11-2 record against current top ten teams in the league’s standings with eight of the ten wins being heavily-reliant on offense with four or more goals needed to edge out the opponent.
It’ll be very tough to score more than two goals on the Panthers and netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, who’s put himself into the Vezina conversation with a 1.75 goals against average since the All-Star Break that outranks hot netminders like Phildephia’s Anthony Stolarz and Winnipeg’s Laurent Brossoit, who have 1.80 and 1.84 averages respectively while Bobrovsky has started six more games.