Edmonton Oilers at Boston Bruins odds, picks and predictions

The Edmonton Oilers (37-20-2) visit the Boston Bruins (36-13-14) Tuesday at TD Garden. The opening faceoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+). Below, we analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the Oilers vs. Bruins odds, and make our expert NHL picks and predictions.

Edmonton crushed the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 Sunday and has won 4 straight games. Those 6 goals spell a lot of offense, but it’s the Oilers’ defense that has stuck out during the streak. Foes have averaged just 1.5 goals against Edmonton over those 4 games.

The Bruins return to home ice after playing at the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday. Boston topped the Maple Leafs 4-1 and is 2-1-0 over its last 3 games after losing 3 in a row from Feb. 22-26.

Boston and Edmonton have met once this season. The Bruins beat the Oilers in a 6-5 overtime contest Feb. 21.

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Oilers at Bruins odds

BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 7:45 a.m. ET.

Oilers at Bruins projected goalies

Stuart Skinner (28-13-2, 2.64 GAA, .905 SV%, 2 SO) vs. Linus Ullmark (16-7-6, 2.80 GAA, .910 SV%, 1 SO)

Skinner stopped 24 of 25 shots in a 2-1 win at the Seattle Kraken Saturday, and he has registered a tidy .949 SV% across his last 3 games. The 2 games prior to that stretch saw him cough up 11 goals. The 1st of those was a game against these Bruins when Skinner allowed 6 goals (5 even-strength) on 36 shots.

Ullmark last started Saturday and had a rocky outing, allowing 5 goals at the New York Islanders. The 30-year-old Swede has not won since Feb. 8; he is 0-4-1 with an .874 SV% since.

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Oilers at Bruins picks and predictions

Prediction

Oilers 4, Bruins 3

Boston is just 2-2-2 over its last 6 home games. The Bruins have played back-to-back days 9 times this season and have gone 4-2-3 in the 2nd game.

Edmonton is 3-1-0 across its last 4 games on the road. Per Oddsshark.com, it is 6-1 in its last 7 games at Boston. With the Oilers looking to exact a measure of retribution after the Feb. 21 setback on home ice, look for an inspired effort in this one.

TAKE EDMONTON (-120).

Boston has played in too many close games of late to take a run at plus-money for the Oilers. PASS.

The Boston defense has been leaky of late, and the Over has gone 6-3 across the club’s last 9 games. The Bruins have allowed 34.9 shots per game over that stretch, and they have been trending toward allowing more high-danger looks.

Per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Oilers rank 2nd in the NHL in expected 5-on-5 goals over their last 10 games (3.33 per game). Edmonton has been piling up good looks between the circles and also recently had a stretch of scoring powerplay goals in 7 of 8 games from Feb. 15-28.

Clearly, the Feb. 21 Boston-Edmonton meeting got out on the loose with the 10 regulation goals. Nine of those were in 5-on-5 play.

For the season, Boston has allowed 2.73 goals per game on 31.5 shots per game. On no rest, those figures have been 2.89 and 33.1, respectively.