This weekend of NHL has already surpassed expectations! With some huge scorelines and big upsets, we are all pumped to see what Sunday has in store for us. As always, our experts have been hard at it to bring you the very best NHL picks, which you can find below.
Buffalo Sabres @ Philadelphia Flyers – 2.00 PM EDT
The Sabres were narrowly beaten out by the Capitals in a tense 4-3 defeat, it was their 6th loss to the division leaders from 7 games this season.
After going down 2-0 within the first 10 minutes, the Sabres were constantly chasing the lead, they pulled the margin back to just 1 goal on 2 occasions only for the Caps to reply with a goal of their own.
There were multiple point scorers for the Sabres, including all 3 of the Rasmus’, with Asplund and Dahlin assisting a goal, and Ristolainen having a hand in 2 goals.
Interim Head Coach Don Granato addresses the media after tonight’s game against the Capitals. https://t.co/ROA5jrJ43I
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 10, 2021
The Sabres now head the road for 3 games against 3 clubs, starting with a trip to Philadelphia to face the Flyers, who they are 2-5 against this season.
The Flyers snapped their losing ways with a 3-2 win over the Bruins yesterday, the win was revenge for their home turf defeat to them just days earlier.
The Bruins took the lead early, but the Flyers pulled one back thanks to Travis Konecny before Shayne Gostisbehere buried a powerplay goal to take the lead. To score on a power play against the Bruins is an impressive feat, they lead the league for penalty kill percentage with 87.7%.
The Flyers have struggled in recent weeks and need to be more consistent with the gap between them and a playoff position continuing to widen.
NHL Pick – Buffalo Sabres (+190)
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Arizona Coyotes @ Vegas Golden Knights – 4.00 PM EDT
The Coyotes and Knights will run it back today following their goal fest on Friday which saw the Knights take the bragging rights, winning 7-4. It was the 6th game of the Coyotes 9 game road trip, with a record of 3-3-0 it has been quite successful so far, but they have now lost 2 in a row.
The game got off to the worst start for the Coyotes, conceding 4 goals unanswered in the opening 10 minutes, including 1 shorthanded and 1 power play goal.
That made the Coyotes’ job incredibly difficult, and despite outscoring the Knights for the remainder of the game, the damage was already done.
Phil Kessel, who scored a hat trick just a few games ago, was instead assisting them, helping to set up the Coyotes final 3 goals for a hat trick of assists.
It was a much needed win for the Knights who had lost their last 3 home games in a row for the first time this season, and have seen themselves overtaken by the Avalanche on the table.
There were multiple 2 point scorers for the Knights, but Reilly Smith was the only player to bag double goals, scoring an impressive short handed goal, and another in the final period to restore their 3 goal cushion.
After today, the Knights and Coyotes won’t play until May, they have faced 5 times this season, with the Knights having the better of it, leading 4-1.
NHL Pick – Vegas Golden Knights (-250)
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Colorado Avalanche @ Anaheim Ducks – 6.00 PM EDT
The Avalanche prevailed over the Ducks on Friday in an incredibly tight 2-0 win, it was the 6th win from the last 7 games for the Avs who lead the division on 58 points.
Despite there being 63 shots between the two teams, just 2 goals were scored, with both coming very late in the 2nd and 3rd term of the game.
Valeri Nichushkin broke the deadlock 17 minutes in the 2nd term, ending his 3 game point drought in the process. Mikko Rantanen scored the only other goal with just 30 seconds left to play into an empty net. Assisted by none other than Nathan MacKinnon, the two have 95 goals/assists between them this season.
We don’t know how it gets better than an empty net goal!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/kslbCi1A29
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 10, 2021
The Avs only made 6 extra shots over the Ducks, luckily for them, the freshly traded Jonas Johansson was there in net to save every attempt, recording his first career shutout in the process.
After a painful 8-3 away defeat to the Wild, a shutout win was the perfect response for the Avs, who the bookies have highlighted as the most likely to take down the Stanley Cup this season.
NHL Pick – Colorado Avalanche (-460)
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Washington Capitals @ Boston Bruins 7.00 PM EDT
The Caps get another chance at the Bruins following their home soil defeat to them on Thursday, this time around the game will be played in Boston, both the Caps and Bruins have performed pretty much the same whether home or away.
In the time since they last met, the Caps travelled to Buffalo for a single game against the Sabres, and while not as comfortable as they may have liked, the Caps came out on top, 4-3.
It was the fourth straight time the Caps have won by a 1 goal margin. No team in the entire league has won more games by such a margin this season, the Caps have so far recorded 15.
Alexander Ovechkin added another goal to his tally against the Sabres, but Justin Schultz stole the show with his 3 point haul, scoring a goal and assisting 2 more.
The Bruins couldn’t maintain that winning momentum as they travelled to Philadelphia for another game against the struggling Flyers yesterday, who the Bruins beat just 2 games earlier.
Despite attempting 10 shots more than the Flyers, the Bruins weren’t able to find the back of the net more than twice, and young goalie, Jeremy Swayman couldn’t repeat his heroics of the previous 2 games, saving just 20 of 23 attempts.
They now find themselves in the less than ideal position of playing in back to back days, made worse considering that they are playing the Caps who haven’t played since Friday.
NHL Pick – Washington Capitals (-108)
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Pittsburgh Penguins @ New Jersey Devils – 7.00 PM EDT
The Penguins and Devils are also going head to head again today following their 10 goal thriller on Friday, both teams went into the last game off the back of a win, but it was the Penguins that came out on top, 6-4.
With the win, the Penguins maintain the divisions’ best record over the last 10 games (7-2-1), while the Devils have the equal worst (3-5-2).
The Devils came out firing with the opening goal from Miles Wood, but by the end of the first term the Penguins were on top and they had an answer for every time the Devils pulled one back.
Wood finished the game with 2 goals for the Devils, ending his 4 game goalless streak, bringing his season total to a club leading 13 goals.
The Penguins had multiple big point getters, but it was Bryan Rust and the skipper, Sidney Crosby, which led the charge with 3 points a piece.
Crosby: “We did good things when we needed to.”
The captain breaks down tonight’s win in New Jersey ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/om3cGEdbsq
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 10, 2021
The two sides have only played 4 times this season, the points are evenly shared so far, 2 games a piece.
When playing the second match of a 2 game series this season, the Penguins are 10-9, from 19 series’, while the Devils have had a more broken season, going 5-8 from 13 series’.
NHL Pick – Pittsburgh Penguins (-194)
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The 2021 NHL is well underway now! If you want to catch up with all the latest information, make sure you visit our NHL hub page.
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
