NHL best bets, picks, predictions: Canucks-Flyers, Wild-Canadiens

The first week of the NHL season is in the books, so it’s a great time for bettors to find value by taking advantage of some overreactions in the market.

Now is also the time to go the other way and start acting on trends that bookmakers may have yet to spot.

A couple of underdogs fit that bill Tuesday night.

Here are two games to target:

Canucks vs. Flyers prediction

(6 p.m. ET, ESPN+)

The Canucks have been shot out of a cannon to start the season.

Facing a daunting home-and-home with the Western Conference favorite Oilers, they embarrassed Edmonton to the tune of 8-1 in Vancouver and then completed the sweep with a 4-3 victory in Alberta. 

It’s easy to overstate results early in an 82-game marathon, but no NHL team needed to get off the blocks smoothly more than the Canucks, who doomed themselves in back-to-back seasons with awful starts. 

Vancouver now heads East for a showdown with the Flyers on Tuesday night and there will likely be a lot of folks looking to back the feel-good Canucks as road favorites against the rebuilding Flyers.

I would tread carefully.

While the Canucks are the better team, this is a tricky spot to navigate.

Not only is Vancouver traveling across the continent after emotional games in British Columbia and Alberta, but it’s also an early start (6 p.m. ET) and this is Philadelphia’s home opener. 

The Flyers came unglued against the Senators on Saturday, but they were full value for their win in Columbus last Thursday and are always going to compete for head coach John Tortorella.

It’s an ugly bet, but this is a great sell-high spot on the Canucks, who still have plenty of questions to answer over this regular season. 

The pick: Flyers moneyline +117 (BetRivers Sportsbook).

Wild vs. Canadiens prediction

(7 p.m. ET, ESPN+)

The Wild check in to Montreal with a 1-1 record, but even that seems a bit flattering.

Minnesota needed a blood-and-thunder performance from goaltender Filip Gustavsson to beat the Panthers, 2-0, to start the season, and followed that with a rough outing in a 7-4 loss to the Maple Leafs.

Normally one of the most reliably sound defensive teams in the NHL, Minnesota has been quite leaky to start the season and you wonder if the absence of No. 1 defenseman Jared Spurgeon and the departure of Matt Dumba is causing the Wild some issues.

A suspect defense is the last thing the Wild can afford either, as there’s not much scoring depth on this roster beyond the top two lines. 

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The Canadiens are young and flawed, but they’ve grabbed three of a possible four points to kick off the new campaign and are having no issues creating offense. 

This could also end up being a Marc-Andre Fleury start for the Wild in potentially his last chance to play in his home province if this is his final season in the NHL.

Fleury struggled in a big way in 2022-23 and is a significant downgrade from Gustavsson, especially behind a defense that has yet to sort itself out.

With plenty of high-end talent and an improving young defense core, the Canadiens look to be a pesky underdog and are worth a play in this contest.

The pick: Canadiens moneyline +125 (Caesars Sportsbook)