Top NHL Betting Picks For Tuesday, January 25th (2022)
We’re starting to heat up on the ice. Back-to-back 2-0 weeks brings our record over the last month to 7-1, so let’s keep it rolling in the final January edition of NHL best bets.
In recent days, the hot topic around the league has surprisingly been the All-Star Game. No, not the game itself – the All-Star selection criteria. As it’s currently constructed, each team is awarded an All-Star, and with eight teams per division and only 11 slots per team, some notable big-name players are left out of this year’s festivities. And not just big names who are mainstays in the mid-season classic like Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand, but young stars amid spectacular seasons like the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin and the Ducks’ Trevor Zegras.
That sparks the debate – does every team deserve to have an All-Star? Using the current format, there are certainly some players who were selected who probably wouldn’t have been if there were no restrictions. But is it better for the league if all 32 of its teams get to share the big stage and get exposure they otherwise wouldn’t have been afforded? Or perhaps it’s better for the NHL to have its 44 best players on display, even if those 44 come from only 12-14 of the teams.
The All-Star Game takes place in Las Vegas on February 5th, so we’ve still got two editions of best bets to get to before then. Here’s the first of the two, and I’ve got two underdogs primed for the upset tonight.
Compare odds from all major sportsbooks for today’s games >>
Buffalo Sabres ML (+145)
I know the Sabres aren’t a good team and haven’t been a good team for years, but getting +145 against Ottawa is too valuable to pass on. Especially since they opened at +105. The line has moved too far in Ottawa’s direction. These teams also battled in Ottawa just eight nights ago, the Sabres closed +148 on the moneyline, and they won the game 3-1.
For starters, there’s no home ice advantage for the Senators. The Canadian Tire Centre isn’t allowing any fans until February, so it’ll be an empty barn in this one. And more importantly, the Sabres are playing well lately, starting with their January 18th win over these Senators. Buffalo has scored 13 times in their last three games, and they’re coming off a 6-3 beatdown of the Flyers as all their new pieces are finally starting to come together. Alex Tuch, one of the keys to the Jack Eichel trade, has been on fire since his return to the area where he grew up. In just nine games as a Sabre, Tuch has 10 points while leading Buffalo’s forward group in ice time at nearly 20 minutes a game.
Peyton Krebs, another big piece of the Eichel trade, struggled to find his footing at the NHL level but woke up against the Flyers, netting two of Buffalo’s six goals. A red-hot Sabres offense spells disaster for an Ottawa team who cannot keep the puck out of their net. They allow 3.57 goals per game, fourth-worst in the league ahead of only its three worst teams – Arizona, Montreal, and Seattle.
Ottawa is also worse on home ice than on the road, securing just 10 of a possible 30 points at the Canadian Tire Centre. On the flip side, Buffalo has a better points percentage away from Western New York than on their home ice.
The stars are aligning for Buffalo to snatch another victory from the empty arena in Ottawa, and at this value, this bet is hard to pass on. I will play the Sabres all the way down to +130 if it drops that far.
Vancouver Canucks ML (+115)
We’re selling high on the Edmonton Oilers… Wait, what? The Oilers, losers of 13 of their last 16 games, finally got back into the win column on Saturday after beating the Flames 5-3. It was their first win in their previous eight games, dating back to December 18th. So how are we selling high on a team that has endured such a run of ineptitude? Because after just one win, the market thinks they’re already fixed and ready to go on a run. Edmonton opened -160 on the road in Vancouver, and the sharps quickly identified the misprice and hammered the Canucks. Vancouver is down to +115 from +130, but despite losing some value, they’re still in play down to +110.
The Oilers have beaten the Canucks twice already this season, but those Canucks were coached by Travis Green. The new-look, Bruce Boudreau-led Canucks are a completely different story. Vancouver has come back down to earth since winning eight of their first nine games under their new coach and collecting a point in all nine of those games. They’re just 3-4-1 in January and have lost back-to-back games, but overall, the Canucks are a much tougher team to play against under Boudreau.
Since the coaching change, Vancouver allows a sparkling 2.25 goals per game. Extrapolated over a full season, that mark would be best in all of hockey, 0.14 points better than the Hurricanes, who currently have the second-best points percentage in the NHL. And what’s the best way to beat the Oilers? It’s not to outscore them, that’s for sure. It’s to lock them down defensively and limit their scoring chances. The Canucks do just that and present a tough matchup for Connor McDavid. Leon Draisaitl, and company.
I also mentioned how Vancouver has recently cooled off, but let’s dig deeper into their schedule of late. Their last seven games have come against Florida twice (third-best points percentage in the NHL), Tampa Bay (fourth), Carolina (second), Washington (12th), Nashville (11th), and St. Louis (ninth). That’s one of the hardest two-week stretches you can put together, and five of those contests came on the road. Now they’ll battle the Oilers on home ice, a team in the bottom half of the league in points percentage (18th).
It’s never easy to bet against the best player in the world, but there’s too much value on the home team in this one.
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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.