Colorado heads to Detroit to take on the Red Wings. The Rangers try to avoid three losses in a row. Vegas hosts the Kings. Let’s have a look at our NHL daily predictions.
| Islanders vs Hurricanes ML +120 / -140 O/U 5.5 |
Avalanche vs Red Wings ML Off / Off O/U Off |
| Senators vs Rangers ML Off / Off O/U Off |
Kings vs Golden Knights ML Off / Off O/U Off |
| Panthers vs Ducks ML Off / Off O/U Off |
Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.
The Game to Watch: Avalanche vs Red Wings.
Colorado-Detroit is one of the most storied rivalries in the National Hockey League. Unfortunately, neither team is in a particularly good spot as a franchise right now.
That doesn’t mean that this game won’t be fun.
Detroit may not have the strongest roster construction in the National Hockey League, but they are only one point behind the Washington Capitals for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. They are 10-8-2 through 20 games and are gunning for their third straight win.
It’s been a good home stand for the Red Wings. They managed a loser point against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first game, then obliterated the Calgary Flames 8-2 on Wednesday. The Wings struck four times on six chances on the man advantage. Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou and Mike Green each tallied a three-point night.
Then on Friday, the Red Wings breezed past the Buffalo Sabres 3-1.
Mantha and Larkin have now surpassed Green for the team lead in points with 19 each. Green is tied for third in the NHL amongst defensemen in scoring with 17 points. He trails only Dallas’ John Klingberg and St. Louis’ Alex Pietrangelo.
Things have trended a bit downward for the Colorado Avalanche since the Matt Duchene trade, predictably so. Their trip to Sweden resulted in a pair of 4-3 losses to the Ottawa Senators. They managed an overtime loss point, and they trumped the Capitals on home ice, but were blown up by the Predators last night in Nashville.
Colorado and Detroit have been trading wins in their season series since 2013. The Avalanche have had to travel after playing last night in Tennessee, and they are just 3-7-0 on the road this season. Colorado is also winless in their last four three-in-four scenarios.
Advantage Detroit Red Wings.
Prediction: Take the Wings to win. Play the over, which has hit in the last four Avalanche road games.
Other NHL Daily Predictions
Senators vs Rangers: The New York Rangers got a bevy of good chances against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, but could not break through. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots to earn his second shutout of the season.
Henrik Lundqvist stood on his head and saved 40 shots but still lost 2-0. Such is Lundqvist’s life as a Ranger.
The Rangers were 3-2 against the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden in 2016-2017. The first loss was a 2-0 shutout in Derick Brassard’s return to the Garden. Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich were not active due to injury. Antti Raanta patrolled the crease.
Their second loss was Game 6 of the second round of last years’ postseason.
Madison Square Garden has been something of a safe haven for the Rangers of late. They took their winning streak onto home ice two weeks ago and swept a three game home stand from the likes of Columbus, Boston and Edmonton.
After a pair of losses to the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets, the Rangers are trying to get back on track.
Ottawa has played well on the road this season. They are 4-0-1 as the visiting team, though technically one of those road wins and another home win came in Sweden. So I count that as 5-0-1 away from Ottawa.
The Senators’ schedule is very odd. They have only played five road games (technically) and have had back to back bye-weeks built into their schedule this month. The Sens are currently on the tail-end of a back-to-back in which they lost 3-2 in overtime against the lowly Arizona Coyotes yesterday.
The over has hit in each of the last five Rangers home games. It has also hit in the last for Sens road games and the last four played on no days of rest for Ottawa.
New York needs a win to get back on track. At least they have had a bit of rest to recover, unlike the Senators.
Prediction: Take the Rangers to win. Play the over.
Kings vs Golden Knights: Malcolm Subban has been activated by the Vegas Golden Knights. Which means that the Golden Knights could actually have an NHL-caliber player standing between the pipes tonight! What a pleasant turn of events!
And here I am, still incredulous that the Vegas Golden Knights have managed to tread water and maintain second place in the Pacific Division. They remain 11-6-1 and are only three points behind the Pacific Division leading Los Angeles Kings.
The Knights are 7-1-0 on home ice. They defend it against those same Kings tonight.
James Neal has five points in his last six games. He leads the team with 10 goals, but trails in the points race to David Perron. The former St. Louis Blue has six goals and 11 assists on the year. William Karlsson has two multi-point games in his last three contests, giving him 14 points through the season. He’s already well on his way to meeting his career high of 25 points, set last year with the Blue Jackets. He has found a home on the Knights’ top line alongside Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith.
Jussi Jokinen, acquired from the Edmonton Oilers, has a pair of assists in two games since joining the Kings.
The Kings snapped a four-game losing streak last night with a 4-0 shutout victory over the Florida Panthers. Now that the losing streak is behind them, they will want to put the pedal to the metal and drop the Golden Knights.
They will have Jonathan Quick in net tonight. After getting the night off yesterday, he will be back in action. Though he lost his last four starts, he still has a .930 save percentage.
Prediction: Take the Kings to win. Play the under.
