Friday caps off the week with a smaller three-game slate of NHL action. The undefeated Winnipeg Jets look to overcome a long five day break when taking on the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche look to fix their bleeding offense against the Anaheim Ducks.
The game that kicks off the night is an exciting one with the Carolina Hurricanes looking to slow down the Pittsburgh Penguins and their red hot veterans in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. It should be a great night of games and we are looking to improve on our 2-3 record last night.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Bet: Rickard Rakell Over 0.5 points (+135)
The 31-year-old Swedish winter has been red hot to start the season as he’s been playing alongside the current league leader in points Evgeni Malkin, who has refound his game this season after many debated if a regression was coming for the three-time Stanley Cup winner.
He put the conversation to bed with 11 points through the first five games of the season. Rakell has been the finisher to Malkin’s passes with three goals so far this season. The Penguins have been hot on offence this season with the second-most goals this season (20) and a profitable in for this lineup is what we should be looking for. Rakell has a pair of goals and five assists for seven points in his last 11 games versus the Hurricanes.
Bet: Sharks Jets Under 5.5 goals (+105)
The Jets enter Friday with a perfect 3-0-0 record but will have quite the challenge if they want to continue staying undefeated. They play the San Jose Sharks, who are coming off a tough 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night and will look to avoid back-to-back losses.
The Sharks have the better record in this matchup with a 6-4-0 record in their last ten games and will catch the Jets while they are cold as they haven’t played since last Sunday. It also doesn’t help that 94 per cent of the bets on the game are for Winnipeg which could make it an interesting fade opportunity.
San Jose seems to play their best defence against Winnipeg with eight of their last ten matchups totaling fewer than six goals. With how tight of a game it should be, I think the best play is a very hard under as the Jets are known for their defensive prowess and could score a couple of goals while keeping the Sharks off the board.
Bet: Ducks Avalanche Over 6.5 goals (-125), Nathan MacKinnon anytime goal (-135)
The Avalanche have allowed the most goals in the league so far this season with 25 through four games resulting in a 0-4-0 record. It begs the question of this game versus the Ducks is finally their bounce back game and it could be as Colorado has a 11-1-1 record in their last 13 games versus Anaheim.
The Ducks have been playing well, as they’ve beaten the red hot Utah Hockey Club and shut out the Sharks 2-0 while also keeping things close for a 3-1 loss versus the Golden Knights. Anaheim will look to make things challenging for Colorado when starting Lukas Dostal between the pipes.
The 24-year-old Czech goalie has a goals against average under two after his first two starts of the season. However, his two career outings against Colorado have been challenging, resulting in a total of 13 goals allowed. Dostal will make fans believe it could be a low-scoring game when he could get blown up, resulting in the over.
Five of their last nine matchups have totaled seven or more goals but if you want to play things safe you could wait a few minutes into the game and see if the line drops to 5.5 and take it then, otherwise over 6.5 is still advisable.
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon has scored just once so far this season and has six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in his last 12 games versus Anaheim.
