Top NHL Betting Picks For Tuesday, January 4th (2022)
The Canadian NHL teams are still on an extended holiday break. The government north of the border has chosen to limit arena attendance, prompting the league to pause home games for the seven clubs who reside in Canada so they do not feel heavy financial ramifications.
Nearly all the United States-based teams are still in action though, and the Tuesday slate is filled with eight games and plenty of opportunities to cash some tickets. Some lineups are still a bit weakened with players in COVID protocol, and some teams have yet to find their skating legs coming out of the long pause, but all things considered, these are my favorite two sides tonight on the ice.
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Anaheim Ducks ML -130
The Ducks have been one of the most surprising teams in the NHL this season. A team who was ticketed for a probable top-five draft selection has vaulted itself into Wild Card contention thanks to youngsters like Troy Terry and Trevor Zegras bursting onto the scene, and veterans like Ryan Getzlaf returning to form. Unfortunately for Anaheim, Zegras and Getzlaf are currently in COVID protocol, but Zegras could be activated for this one if he passes virus mandates. Even if he doesn’t suit up, Anaheim is a tough matchup for a road-weary Flyers team.
The Ducks have missed Zegras, as they’ve lost all three games and have collected just one point coming out of the holiday break. But, they’ve played red-hot Vancouver and two of the most talented teams in the league in Vegas and Colorado on the road. That’s not an easy schedule to find your stride against. Anaheim will return home and start a four-game homestand tonight, so I expect a bit of a jump in their step.
Philadelphia, as I mentioned earlier, has been on the road for a while and they could be without some key players as well. Sean Couturier is likely to remain in the protocol, Derick Brassard won’t play, and Carter Hart is returning from nearly three weeks on the shelf. He’ll be rusty after so much time off due to injury, so look for Anaheim to get bodies to the front of the net early and often. This will also be the Flyers’ fourth straight road game out in California, marking exactly a week since they departed from the east coast to head to the Golden State. Philly is going to tire out as this game drags on while Anaheim figures to be fresher as they get last change on home ice.
The way to beat the Ducks is to get into the high-danger areas against them. Anaheim has given up the sixth-most high-danger goals in the entire NHL, but the Flyers simply don’t play that style of hockey, and without Brassard and Couturier, they’re even less capable of burying greasy goals. Philadelphia is dead-last in high-danger goals for this year, and if they’re not going to get bodies in front of John Gibson’s crease, pucks aren’t going to go past him.
I expect Anaheim to come out fired up ready to end the losing skid in this one, and I would play them down to -135.
Nashville Predators ML +125
I don’t love fading the Golden Knights at home, since that place is one of the toughest barns in all of hockey to play in. But Vegas is going to be short-handed again on Tuesday night as head coach Pete DeBoer said that his captain and best forward Mark Stone, as well as his number one netminder Robin Lehner, are both doubtful. That’s not ideal against a really balanced Predators team who can roll all four lines and take advantage of tired legs and mismatches that Stone’s absence will create.
Lehner is also a huge loss, and Vegas will have decisions to make in net. Do they go with Laurent Brossoit for a fourth straight game, keeping in mind he’s never been a starter and has spent the bulk of his career backing up Connor Hellebuyck, a goalie who rarely ever takes a night off? Or do they give Logan Thompson, a goalie with eight minutes of NHL experience who played in the ECHL as recently as 2020, his first career start? Against a tough team like Nashville, I’d imagine the Knights lean on Brossoit, but it’s a lot to ask of a goalie who has never started four straight games in his career.
In Nashville’s net, we should see Juuse Saros, and when your team is already down its best forward, one of the last goalies you want to see in the opposite crease is Saros. The Predators number one has not only been stellar this year with the sixth-best save percentage (.925%) and eighth-best goals against average (2.24) in the NHL, but he’s also dominated the Golden Knights in his young NHL career. He’s posted a .934 save percentage in six games against Vegas, and he’ll bring that plus the 10th-most goals saved above expectation to the ice in a game Nashville needs on the road with Minnesota and Colorado breathing down their necks in the standings.
There’s a home ice tax on the Knights right now, and it’s over-inflating their value. The Predators have no fears about playing on the road – they’re 10-6-2 away from Bridgestone Arena already this year and they’re poised to win an 11th game in the road whites. Play Nashville down to +110.
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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.