Top NHL Betting Picks For Tuesday, January 11th (2022)
Perhaps no team in the NHL has been more of a consistent surprise than the Nashville Predators. After being fired from the New Jersey Devils, John Hynes wasn’t out of a job for long as old friend David Poile scooped him up and stuck him behind his bench in Nashville. And despite middle-of-the-pack finishes in his first two years with the team, year three has been nothing short of fantastic.
The Predators are tops in the Central Division – a division that houses Stanley Cup favorite Colorado, 2019 Cup Champion St. Louis, and a Minnesota Wild team that got off to an absolutely blazing start. Yet Nashville is the team on top, getting the job done in a variety of ways but relying heavily on their outstanding young goaltender Juuse Saros.
Nashville will take the ice on Tuesday, but they didn’t make our best bets for the night. Here are the two wagers I like most on a loaded slate.
Compare odds from all major sportsbooks for today’s games >>
Florida Panthers 60-Minute Line (-130)
The Panthers are getting pricey. They’re laying -200 on home ice against the red-hot Canucks, who have been one of the best teams in terms of points percentage since they hired Bruce Boudreau to replace Travis Green behind the bench. I think some of what Vancouver has done has been a mirage, and I’m very confident in Florida’s play on home ice.
The Panthers are 18-3-0 at home this season; they just don’t leave points on the table at FLA Live Arena and they’re about to get an incredibly road-weary Canucks team. Sure, there have been two postponement breaks mixed in, but Vancouver hasn’t played on home ice since December 14th, and they won’t play on home ice until January 21st. The high-flying Panthers aren’t really the team you want to go up against when you’re sick and tired of being away from home.
Florida is also one of the best teams analytically in the NHL, and they do a lot of things Vancouver struggles with. They generate a ton of offense, and the Canucks defense isn’t its calling card despite Thatcher Demko being one of the better goaltenders in the league. The Panthers are second in xGF, they’ve generated the most scoring chances and 18 more than any other NHL team, the most high danger chances, and the second-most high danger goals. It’s hard to slow down this train once it gets rolling.
I mentioned in the open how I believe some of what Vancouver has accomplished since their coaching change has been slightly overblown. They’ve won eight of nine, and have earned points in all nine games under Boudreau. But I think the streak ends tonight; here’s who the Canucks have played in these nine aforementioned tilts: Kings twice, Bruins, Jets, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Sharks, Ducks, Kraken. If the season ended today, only four of those teams would be playoff-bound and only two would have earned a spot above a Wild Card. It hasn’t exactly been a gauntlet, and this is a real test for the upstart Canucks.
Florida is also expecting the two Sams back – Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart – which will provide a huge boost to their forward group. I wouldn’t play a regulation line much lower than this, but the Panthers are good, so my rock-bottom price is -135.
San Jose Sharks ML (-130)
I talked about the surprising Predators in the opening, but how about the Sharks? San Jose was glued to the basement of not just the Pacific Division, but the Western Conference and the entire NHL in nearly every preseason projection model. But they’ve had a number of bounce-back seasons from important players like Erik Karlsson and Tomas Hertl, and they’re right in the thick of the Wild Card race out west. On Tuesday night, they’ve got a nice matchup with a Red Wings team who has been exciting, but who is also starting to fizzle out as the season wears on.
The Sharks are hot, they’re rested, they’re returning home, and they’re out for revenge. Coming out of the holiday slash COVID pause, San Jose has won four of six. One of their two losses was to these Red Wings in a 6-2 thrashing in Detroit. It’s tough to beat the same team twice in a row, especially within the same week. The Sharks also haven’t played since Saturday in Philadelphia, while Detroit has one fewer day of rest as they wrap up four road games in six road nights. You’ve heard of the getaway day in baseball – this is the hockey equivalent. The Red Wings are ready to get back home and play in front of their fans.
And boy, does Detroit need to get back home badly. They’ve earned just three points in the five games since the holiday pause, and they’ve completely forgotten how to score. The Red Wings have just 11 goals in five games – just a shade over two goals per game – and six of those 11 came in their lone victory. They’ve been held to one or zero goals three times in that span.
The Sharks are a much fresher team, they’re playing much better, and they’ll be back home in front of their fans after nearly two weeks away. And despite him playing in the minors, this team received a huge weight off their shoulders with the release of Evander Kane. He’s been nothing but a headache and a distraction, and now the Sharks can play without worrying about what’s coming next. Play San Jose down to -140.
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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.