Top NHL Betting Picks For Wednesday, March 30 (2022)
If you’re a fan of west coast hockey, tonight is the night for you.
There are six games on the NHL schedule on Wednesday, and four of them take place out west with late night start times. The Kings and Oilers will battle for second place in the Pacific, while the Canucks will look to continue their unlikely climb in the playoff hunt. Meanwhile, Vegas will look to stay hot after a rash of mid-season struggles and injuries before the Sharks and Coyotes wrap the night up in the desert.
We’ll have a wager on one of those games, plus another in the eastern time zone. Here are my two best bets on the ice on Wednesday night.
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Vancouver Canucks ML (-115; FanDuel)
The Canucks and Blues will battle in the second half of a home-and-home; St. Louis captured the victory on Monday night on their home ice, but I expect Vancouver to defend their house in just the same manner tonight.
Don’t let the scoreboard deceive you from Monday night’s matchup – Vancouver was the better team. They won the expected goals battle 4.4-3.5, but lost the game 4-1. How? They got goalied. Times two.
The Canucks netminder was Jaroslav Halak who has been one of the league’s worst backups this season, and that was on full display on Monday as he allowed 2.5 goals above expected. On the flip side, Vancouver ran into a red-hot Ville Husso who stopped 3.4 goals above expectation. We may see Husso again in net for the Blues, but there’s a solid chance they go with Jordan Binnginton who has struggled mightily this year. Binnington has allowed 6.3 goals above expected on the season, which is 90th of 112 qualified goaltenders.
Perhaps more encouraging is that Vancouver will turn to their ace Thatcher Demko, and Demko has been one of the NHL’s best starting goaltenders this year. He ranks 12th in goals saved above expected with 11.9, and he’ll go a long way towards ensuring the Blues don’t bury another three goals they don’t deserve in this one.
Vancouver is also playing for a ton right now. Sure, St. Louis is as well, but they’re currently in a playoff spot and have some cushion. The Canucks are continuing to fight to climb into a Wild Card spot despite being pinned to the bottom of the standings through the first few weeks of the season. Under Bruce Boudreau, the Canucks have only lost multiple games in a row four times, so they’ve been an incredibly resilient bunch and I expect that to continue tonight. Play Vancouver down to -120.
New York Rangers / Detroit Red Wings Over 6 (-120; PointsBet)
You can also play the over at 6.5 at plus money, but the official play will be over 6 at -120.
It’s extremely rare to play a Rangers over. Why? They’ve got the best goaltender in the entire sport in Igor Shesterkin, but for some reason, the market hasn’t noticed that he won’t be playing tonight. Alexander Georgiev will get the nod in net after Shesterkin played last night against the Penguins, and Georgiev has been an incredibly poor understudy this season.
In 27 games, Georgiev has allowed 6.3 goals above expectation. That’s 91st of 112 qualified goalies. Aside from a miracle shutout of Carolina on March 20th, Georgiev has allowed at least three goals in eight of his last 10 starts and has let in at least four goals in six of the 10. And if you think those numbers are ugly, shield your eyes.
Detroit will most likely give the net to Alex Nedeljkovic over Thomas Greiss, but no matter who they tab as the starter, the over is in great shape. Nedeljkovic is 99th in goals allowed against expectation with a -9.4 mark, while Greiss is 108th with a mark of -15.8. No team allows more goals than the Red Wings at 3.8 per game; in fact, only the Panthers score more than 3.8 per game, so to get a total below 6 at a strong price is a gift we should be taking advantage of.
The Red Wings are also no strangers to high-scoring affairs. They’re fresh off an 11-2 licking at the hands of Pittsburgh on Sunday, they allowed seven to Edmonton a few weeks back, gave up nine to the lowly Coyotes just a few days prior, and let in 10 to the Maple Leafs to close out February. I’d play this one all the way down to -130.
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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.