Friday caps off the first week of the NHL season with an exciting four-game slate featuring some exciting matchups like Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks travelling to Winnipeg to take on the Jets, who are coming off a resounding 6-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Jake Guentzel will look to make an impact in his first game back in Carolina since signing with the Lightning while the Canucks look to rebound after a bad opening loss to the Flames and the Blues look to ride off their Thursday night win over the Sharks when they clash with the Golden Knights on the road.
The Best Bets have been on fire with a 9-2 record, including another hit on the Pad Stacking Challenge that brought up the bank total to just over $34 heading into Friday. We hope to stay hot with our picks heading into the weekend.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Bet: Jets -1.5 (+105), Blackhawks Under 2.5 goals (-145)
Winnipeg could not have had a better start to their season with a emphatic win over the defending Western Conference Champions. The strength of the Jets last season was their impeccable defence that finished with the best goals against average (2.41) in the league, tied with the Florida Panthers. The area they wanted to improve on was offence, especially their power play, and they showed that the work was put in as they scored twice on the man advantage.
The Blackhawks struggled to keep the score close in their season opener against Utah Hockey Club as they managed to score just two goals. It was very disappointing for a Chicago team that finished last in goals per game last season with a 2.17 average. They went out and added pieces in the offseason like Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi but still fell short to Utah.
This makes me believe the Blackhawks still haven’t figured out how to generate offence without the aid of Bedard yet. Chicago has failed to score three or more goals in eight straight matchups versus Winnipeg and the Jets should capitalize by smothering their opponent again with another decisive victory.
Bet: Flyers Canucks Over 6.0 goals (-115)
The Canucks will be motivated to make up for their complete collapse versus the Flames where they blew a 4-1 lead. Vancouver should play hyper-aggressive looking for a response win but have had trouble versus the Flyers in the past. Philadelphia has won ten of their last 15 matchups versus Vancouver, including four of their last five.
The public will be all over the Canucks knowing how aggressive they will be to make up for a bad loss and they should be able to get more than a few past Philadelphia’s netminder Samuel Ersson. The Action Network reports that 92 per cent of the bets on this game are for the Canucks, which makes sense as Ersson fell apart during his final nine starts last season with a 2-5-1 record in 9 games with a goals against average of 3.59 and a .848 save percentage.
Vancouver should score enough to likely win but their poor defensive performance in their season opener versus Calgary makes me believe they will let the Flyers hang around in this game.
Bet: Blues Golden Knights Under 6.0 goals (-115)
The Blues will have the tough task of attempting to win both games of a back-to-back which they managed to do three times last season and will get a chance to do it again in a tough matchup versus the Golden Knights.
St. Louis will get an edge by having their starting netminder in Jordan Binnington after backup Joel Hofer started against the Sharks. The Golden Knights have topped the Blues in seven of their last 11 matchups but may have a tough time with Binnington between the pipes. The Richmond Hill native has been lethal against the Golden Knights over his career with a 8-3-5 record, a goals against average of 2.98 and a save percentage of .919 in 17 matchups.
It should make for a tighter game than people may expect as the Golden Knights will also have a difference-making netminder in Adin Hill. Since coming to Vegas, Hill has developed into a reliable netminder with a 36-19-3 record, a 2.64 goals against average and a .911 save percentage in 63 career starts with the team. Both goaltenders should stand on their head for a tight game that falls under the goal total.
