NHL Betting Guide: Daily odds, injury news, predictions and best bets for Saturday, February 18th
Welcome to VSiN’s NHL Betting Guide. Read on today's NHL odds, predictions, best bets and more for today’s schedule that features 13 games.
Today’s NHL Odds
- Florida Panthers (-130) at Nashville Predators (+110)
- Colorado Avalanche (-165) at St. Louis Blues (+140)
- New York Islanders (+200) at Boston Bruins (-240)
- New Jersey Devils (-115) at Pittsburgh Penguins (-105)
- Columbus Blue Jackets (+225) at Dallas Stars (-265)
- Montreal Canadiens (+340) at Toronto Maple Leafs (-425)
- Washington Capitals (+160) at Carolina Hurricanes (-190)
- New York Rangers (+120) at Calgary Flames (-140)
- Philadelphia Flyers (+105) at Vancouver Canucks (-125)
- Buffalo Sabres (-125) at San Jose Sharks (+105)
- Detroit Red Wings (+145) at Seattle Kraken (-170)
- Tampa Bay Lightning (-125) at Vegas Golden Knights (+105)
- Arizona Coyotes (+195) at Los Angeles (-230)
Today’s NHL Predictions
Home team’s projected win probability. Subject to change based on starting goaltenders and injury news.
- Nashville – 43.9 percent (+128)
- St. Louis – 35.6 percent (+181)
- Boston – 71.3 percent (-248)
- Pittsburgh – 44.1 percent (+127)
- Dallas – 72.5 percent (-264)
- Toronto – 80.9 percent (-424)
- Carolina – 64.1 percent (-171)
- Calgary – 56.2 percent (-128)
- Vancouver – 51.7 percent (-107)
- San Jose – 43.9 percent (+128)
- Seattle – 62.1 percent (-164)
- Vegas – 45.6 percent (+119)
- Los Angeles – 67.1 percent (-204)
Today’s NHL Schedule
*Indicates that a team is playing the first half of a back-to-back.
Today’s Starting Goaltenders
Here are today’s projected starters based on factors like rest, venue, opponent, and upcoming games. Confirmed starters are highlighted in bold.
NHL Injuries
- Seattle – Andre Burakovsky is listed as day-to-day.
- Pittsburgh – Goaltender Tristan Jarry’s status is still up in the air.
- St. Louis – Ryan O’Reilly was traded. Torey Krug is day-to-day. Brandon Saad has been played on IR.
- Washington – Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, Nic Dowd and John Carlson remain out of the Capitals’ lineup.
- Nashville – Filip Forsberg is still day-to-day.
- Montreal – Kirby Dach is day-to-day due to illness.
- Florida – Sam Bennett is day-to-day.
- Colorado – Cale Makar practiced in a regular jersey on Friday so there’s a good chance he will play on Saturday.
- Toronto – The Maple Leafs acquired Ryan O’Reilly and there’s a chance that he will be in the lineup on Saturday against Montreal.
Today’s Best NHL Bets
New Jersey Devils (Moneyline) -115
Pittsburgh has gone from being one of the better defensive teams in the league to one of the worst in just a few short months and their offense hasn’t been able to bail them out. A lot of the blame has been placed on the goaltender Casey DeSmith, but that’s sort of unfair when you consider the team itself ranks 29 in expected goals against and 26 in shots against since Tristan Jarry was injured on Jan. 2.
The Devils aren’t where they were at the start of the season i.e., taking the league by surprise with their elite underlying metrics, but after experiencing some struggles at the end of 2022 and into 2023, New Jersey has gone 11-4 straight up in their last 15 games. The Devils defense leaves a lot to be desired, but their goaltending is strong, and their offense remains one of the best in the NHL.
Casey DeSmith and the Penguins blew a 3-1 lead to the Islanders on Friday and eventually lost the game 5-4 in overtime. Hopefully, for the sake of this bet, they’re spent. And, while there is a chance that goaltender Tristan Jarry will start on Saturday after missing 16 games due to injury, it seems slightly more likely that Dustin Tokarski will be between the pipes since Jarry hasn’t been activated yet. That could chance, but with superstar Jack Hughes expected to return to the Devils’ lineup on Saturday, this is a good opportunity to back the road team at a short price (-115) to beat the Penguins, like they’ve done twice already this season.
Wins: 58Losses: 68Units Won: -16.17ROI: -11.4 percent
