NHL: Vancouver Canucks vs. Philadelphia Flyers odds, pick & prediction

The Vancouver Canucks had themselves quite the opening week. After smashing the Edmonton Oilers, 8-1, in their season-opener, the Canucks completed the home-and-home sweep with a composed 4-3 victory in Alberta on Saturday night. Vancouver torpedoed its last two campaigns with terrible starts, so it was imperative that it got off the blocks hot in 2023-24 and they look well on their way to doing just that.

Tuesday night’s tilt with the Philadelphia Flyers provides a much different task for the Canucks.

Flyers vs. Canucks prediction: Analysis

Vancouver’s wins over Edmonton featured a little bit of everything. The Canucks were responsible in their own zone for the most part, they contained Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and they were never overwhelmed. There were a couple of dicey moments on Saturday night, but the Canucks managed situations well and were very dangerous on the counterattack against the league’s most dynamic offensive team.

The Canucks deserve full marks for their 2-0-0 start, but now is the time when bettors need to take a step back and ask themselves if the betting market is going to get carried away with a two-game sample.

Undoubtedly, the Canucks are a better team than Philadelphia and deserve to be the betting favorites on Tuesday night, but there’s a chance we see this line creep up to -150 on Vancouver before puck drop and that does seem like it would be a bit of an overreaction. This is a tricky spot for the Canucks as they’re traveling across the continent after two emotional wins and it is the Flyers’ home opener, so there’s a good chance we see a strong effort from John Tortorella’s side.

The Flyers are miles behind the Oilers, but they will provide a different kind of puzzle for the Canucks to solve. The Flyers are physical, play with structure and do whatever they can to take away space from their opponents. The back-and-forth hockey we saw in Edmonton vs. Vancouver is unlikely to break out on Tuesday night.

We’ll see if money continues to show up on Vancouver for this tilt and look to bet the Flyers at the best possible number.

Flyers vs. Canucks prediction: Pick

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