NHL Predictions – Tuesday, November 12:
It’s a relatively light Tuesday NHL card with just seven games on the schedule, including the Winnipeg Jets, who are the early Presidents’ Trophy leader (for best record) versus last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winner, the New York Rangers. The Jets will look to make it seven straight wins and improve to 15-1 on the season in a battle of two of the best goaltenders in the league, Connor Hellebuyck for the Jets and Igor Shesterkin for the Rangers.
The Panthers and Devils kick off a rare two-game series when they meet tonight in Sunrise, Fla. Florida owns the league’s longest current winning streak at seven. Only the Jets (14) have more wins than the Panthers (11) to start the season. So sit back, relax and let’s cash a few bets.
Winnipeg Jets at New York Rangers (-130; 6)
7 p.m. ET
The 14-1 Jets put their six-game winning streak on the line tonight at Madison Square Garden. For just the third time this season, the Jets will play the role of underdog. Winnipeg’s only loss of the season came as a -105 underdog when they played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 28. Tonight starts a stretch that will see Winnipeg play nine of their next 10 games on the road. The Jets’ upcoming opponents include Tampa, Florida twice, Minnesota, Vegas and Dallas.
The Jets have won three of the last four meetings versus the Rangers, scoring four goals in each win. For the season, the Jets have scored four goals or more 10 times in their 15 games.
The Rangers have won three of their last four games, giving up two goals or fewer in each of the wins, but Igor Shesterkin was torched for five goals in a 6-1 pummeling by the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 7.
If you are a daily reader of this column, you know I like to attack the prop market. Four anytime goal scorers have caught my eye. The Jets’ Mark Scheifele has 13 goals in 18 career games versus the Rangers and four goals in five games against Shesterkin. Nikolaj Ehlers has five goals in 15 games versus the Rangers and three goals in six games with Shesterkin between the pipes.
On the Rangers’ side, I am looking to a pair of veterans. Chris Kreider is putting up, as I like to call them, Cy Young hockey numbers. Kreider has eight goals and zero assists this season and loves facing Connor Hellebuyck. He has six goals in 11 games versus the Jets goalie. Mika Zibanejad is not far behind. He has five goals in 11 games versus Hellebuyck.
NHL Predictions: Mark Scheifele anytime goal (+220) – ½ unit
Nikolaj Ehlers anytime goal (+200) – ½ unit
Mika Zibanejad anytime goal (+255) – ½ unit
Chris Kreider anytime goal (+165) – ½ unit
Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs (-140; 6)
7 p.m. ET
This is the first meeting of the season in the battle of Ontario between the Senators and Maple Leafs. Ottawa last played on Saturday, a 3-2 overtime win at Boston as goalie Linus Ullmark earned the win over his former team and best friend Jeremy Swayman. It was the fifth consecutive Ottawa game with six goals or fewer. For the season, Ottawa is 5-7-2 to the Under, including 2-4-1 in road games.
Like the Senators, the Maple Leafs have been playing low-event hockey. Toronto has gone Under the total in its last four games and is 5-0-1 to the Under in its last six. The Maple Leafs have gone Over the total in only five of their 16 games.
NHL Prediction: Senators/Maple Leafs Under 6 (-115) – 1 unit
New Jersey Devils at Florida Panthers (-150; 6.5)
7:30 p.m. ET
This is the first of two meetings this week in Sunrise between the Devils and Panthers as they will renew hostilities again on Thursday. The Devils are coming off not only a loss but a shutout loss to the San Jose Sharks.
Sound the alarms! Three system plays are in effect for this game. The first tells us to play the first-period Over 1.5 goals involving a team that was blanked in its previous game. The Over has hit 21 of the 28 times in this situation. System 2 says to play the full game Over when a team is coming off a shutout loss. Teams in this scenario are 17-9-2. The third system plays into No. 2. Teams coming off a loss to the Sharks have gone 3-0-1 to the full game Over in their next game. Finally, teams coming off a loss to the Sharks are 3-1 on the money line and 2-2 on the puck line. The Panthers are 11-4 to the Over this season.
The Panthers are on a seven-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the NHL. “The Sams,” Reinhart and Bennett, are leading the way for Florida. Reinhart has 11 points (six goals, five assists) on his seven-game point streak. His 11 goals lead the team, while Bennett has nine. Last season, Reinhart scored four goals in three games versus New Jersey.
NHL Predictions: Devils/Panthers 1st-period Over 1.5 goals (-135) – 2 units
Devils/Panthers Over 6.5 (+100) – 2 units
Devils ML (+125) – 1 unit
New York Islanders at Edmonton Oilers (-220; 6)
9 p.m. ET
Edmonton is coming off its biggest goal output of the season on Saturday, erupting for four third-period goals en route to a 7-3 win at Vancouver. Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists after being held off the scoresheet in his return from injury against the Golden Knights last week. The Islanders are coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to New Jersey over the weekend and kick off a five-game road trip in Edmonton. New York is still without forwards Matt Barzal and Anthony Duclair, along with Adam Pelech on the blue line. Defenseman Alexander Romanov is expected to make his return as early as tonight.
Edmonton falls into one of the most profitable system plays of the season. The Oilers are a home favorite (-200+) coming off a win. Teams in this spot are 18-2 on the money line, 15-5 on the puck line (-1.5 goals) and have scored at least four goals 19 times in the 20 games. Only two of the 18 wins have gone past 60 minutes.
The Islanders have given up four goals in each of their previous two losses and have failed to cover the puck line in five of their nine losses this season.
NHL Predictions: Oilers in Regulation (-120)
Oilers -1.5 goals (+124)
Oilers TT over 3.5 (-120)
Columbus Blue Jackets at Seattle Kraken (-190, 6.5)
10 p.m. ET
The Blue Jackets are wrapping up a five-game road trip in which they have gone 0-4 and scored two goals or fewer in all four losses. They have lost five in a row overall and have been outscored 22-9 in the five-game skid.
While putting victories in the win column is becoming an issue for Columbus, Sean Monahan has been cashing the Over on his shots-on-goal prop (2.5). He had zero shots on goal in his last game but has gone Over his prop total in 10 of 14 games. What did catch my eye is that Monahan has gone Under his shot prop both times when playing on the back end of a back-to-back. Columbus next plays back-to-back on Friday and Saturday.
The Kraken rallied from down 2-0 to Vegas in their previous game and outlasted the Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime. Seattle has won the last four meetings with Columbus, covering the puck line in all four and scoring at least four goals in three of the four wins.
NHL Predictions: Kraken -1.5 goals (+136) – ½ unit
Kraken in Regulation (-115) – 1 unit
Sean Monahan over 2.5 SOG (+125) – 1 unit
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