It was another nice night for our best NHL bets on Tuesday as we went 2-1 while bagging 1.12 units on the evening. Through two best NHL bets pieces, we’re a cool 5-1 for plus-4.16 units in the early going.
Let’s go ahead and take a look at where the value is on tonight’s six-game schedule.
Tonight’s NHL Best Bets, October 12
William Nylander Anytime Goal Scorer (+184)
Of all the defenses going on tonight’s slate, perhaps only the Chicago Blackhawks have poorer personnel than the Montreal Canadiens. This is a bad omen as an elite Maple Leafs offense makes its way to the Bell Centre tonight.
Auston Matthews is a fine bet here at -132 as well, but we’ll extend for some additional value with Nylander who enjoyed an excellent 2021-22 season and was perhaps the team’s best player in the preseason. Nylander blew past career highs with 34 goals and 80 points across 81 games last season and figures to hang around that mark this season. A key for his first career 30-goal season was a career-high 256 shots on goal while his 13.3% shooting rate wasn’t abnormally above his 11.9% career mark.
An added benefit to his chances of finding the back of the net tonight is John Tavares suiting up after missing the preseason with an oblique injury. A point-per-game center obviously aids Nylander’s chances. He’s also a member of a loaded power-play unit that helped lead the Leafs to the top of the league at 27.3% while the Habs killed penalties at just 75.6%, ranking 27th league-wide.
Add in the league’s worst overall defense last season and the Leafs should put up plenty of offense with Nylander offering significant value to get involved.
Nathan MacKinnon to Score & Colorado to Win by 2+ Goals (+176)
Tonight seems like a good night to target a couple defenses that figure to be among the league’s worst facing a pair of top-four offenses.
In other words, MacKinnon should be a beast tonight against a soft Blackhawks back end while Colorado should easily take care of a Blackhawks team that could end up in the league’s bottom three this season.
Coming off a Stanley Cup and a 32-goal season across 65 games, MacKinnon essentially scored a goal every other game. He’s also done so over the last five seasons with 167 goals over 338 games in that time, good for 0.49 goals per game in that stretch.
The Blackhawks pieced together their blueline with the likes of Jack Johnson and Jarred Tinordi as subpar veterans while Filip Roos and Alec Regula have a combined 18 games of NHL experience on the bottom pair, all of which belong to Regula. Petr Mrazek,who likely starts in net, posted a disastrous 3.34 GAA and .888 Sv% with the Maple Leafs last season and owns a rather bland .909 Sv% for his career.
It seems the door is wide open for MacKinnon and the Avs to produce more than enough offense to cover this bet at fantastic value.
Boston Bruins vs. Washington Capitals Under 6 Total Goals (-105)
There are a couple key offensive players missing for both clubs as the Bruins will be without winger Brad Marchand (hip, labrum) while the Capitals are without Nicklas Backstrom (hip). Both injuries do notable damage to the offensive outlook of each club.
While the Capitals finished 10th in overall offense, the Bruins slipped into the middle of the pack at 15th last year. The Capitals even lost some of their power-play magic at just 18.8%, an area where Backstrom has shined alongside Alex Ovechkin for years.
We also have some quality goaltending. Linus Ullmark turned in a 2.45 GAA and .917 Sv% alongside 11.03 goals saved above average, per Hockey Reference. He ranked 12th in GSAA while appearing in 41 contests.
For the Capitals, it’s newcomer Darcy Kuemper who has been among the very best goaltenders in the game — when healthy — over the last number of seasons. Kuemper posted a 2.54 GAA and .921 Sv% across 57 games with the Avalanche last season while his monster 25.13 GSAA ranked fourth in the league.
With some key injuries to both offenses and strong goaltending at both ends of the ice, an under should absolutely be in play tonight in Washington.
While there may not be many goals in this one, any goal on Wednesday night could net you $200 in free bets at BetMGM. Using this limited-time offer here, bet $10 on any moneyline and if ANY team in the league scores a goal tonight, you’ll get $200 back in free bets.
