Top NHL Betting Picks For Tuesday, April 19 (2022)
Somehow, some way there are only two weeks left in the NHL season. This year has been a ton of fun, but it absolutely flew by with tons of memorable moments and winning bets along the way.
For the top eight Eastern Conference teams, their playoff tickets were essentially punched months ago. The Capitals, the eighth and final team to officially clinch, only did so a few nights ago, but there's a 15-point gap between Washington and the ninth-place Islanders. Nothing was ever in doubt in the East, except for seeding.
Out West is a different story. With just anywhere from five-to-seven games remaining for most teams, only four Western Conference clubs have clinched a spot in the postseason. As it currently stands, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Nashville are slated to join Colorado, St. Louis, Minnesota, and Calgary in the second season, but Vegas is still very much alive and looking to steal a spot.
With so much on the line heading into the home stretch, here are my best bets for Tuesday night in the NHL.
St. Louis Blues ML (-125; FanDuel)
The Tampa Bay Lightning have won the last two Stanley Cups, but the last team other than the Bolts to hoist the best trophy in sports was the St. Louis Blues. This is a very different-looking team than the 2019 version – there's an infusion of youth – but the core pieces are still in place and the Blues are poised to make another run at the Stanley Cup.
St. Louis has completely forgotten how to lose – they've done so just once since March 28th and they still earned a point. In that span, the Blues are 11-0-1 and are the top-scoring team in the entire NHL, averaging 5.2 goals per game and nearly covering most overs by themselves. They've scored six or more goals five times in their last 12 games, and tonight is the second-to-last home game of the season. They'll want to put on one final show for their fans, and that's a motivational edge.
Another motivational edge is evident in the standings. The Blues have 102 points, but the Wild have 101 and are keeping pace every step of the way. And why is seeding so important between these two teams? They'll most likely face each other in the opening round of the playoffs, and the higher seed will have home ice advantage. St. Louis is 26-9-4 on home ice, which is obviously very strong, but Minnesota is 29-7-2 at their home barn, so the Blues don't want to be tasked with playing potentially four games in that building. This team knows they need two points every night out, and it continues tonight against Boston.
Speaking of Boston, they finally notched a win in their last matchup, but have been limping down the stretch, which has most likely exhausted their chance at ending up in any position but a Wild Card. The motivation is surely there to keep winning, but the mountain is a much steeper one to climb than St. Louis's. The Bruins had dropped four of five before beating the Penguins on Saturday, and they haven't scored more than two goals in any of their last five games. That's not going to cut it against a Blues team averaging over five goals per game for the last month.
This line will probably move, especially once Ville Husso is confirmed in net for the Blues. Play St. Louis down to -135.
Tampa Bay Lightning / Detroit Red Wings Over 6.5 (-115; DraftKings)
I was very surprised when this opened up at over 6 (-125) which is what I grabbed. But I still like it at 6.5, but I would set my limit at -115.
There's an interesting trend going on in Tampa-Brian Elliot has taken over as the starting goaltender. Well, sort of. The Lightning have played a ton of games over the last two calendar years. In case you forgot, they've played more games than any other team considering they've won back-to-back Cups, and they also won both in incredibly condensed COVID-affected timeframes. And they're poised to make another run, but they know their all-world netminder needs to be fresh and ready to go. So Jon Cooper is giving him a rest down the stretch, and has allowed Brian Elliot to step in and start against the not-so-good teams.
That creates opportunity towards the over because a Dylan Larkin-less Red Wings team is probably incapable of pulling their weight in an over bet against Andrei Vasilevskiy. But against Brian Elliot? That's much easier. Elliot has started three of the last four games for Tampa Bay and four of the last eight, and while he's 3-0-1 in that stretch, he's allowed 12 goals. Three goals per game isn't bad by any means, especially for a backup, but if the Red Wings put three past Elliot tonight, we'll be well on our way to an over, considering the Lightning are currently -540 on the moneyline. The books are nearly guaranteeing a win.
On the flip side, we know the Lightning can score like very few teams can. They've scored 16 times in the last four games, and average 3.31 goals per game on the year – ninth-most in the NHL. But they absolutely feast on terrible goaltending, and that's exactly what they'll face tonight. The Red Wings allow the second-most goals per game at 3.80, and that number has risen of late.
This weekend, Detroit allowed 10 goals in two games, and over the last three months, they've given up eight goals to the Blackhawks, seven to Toronto and again to Minnesota, 10 to the very same Leafs, nine to the last-place Coyotes, seven to Edmonton, and a record 11 to the Penguins. It's been ugly, and I expect the Lightning to use this game as a final playoff tune-up with a ton of shots.
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Mike Wagenman is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @mjwags23.