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Free NHL Picks Today for Thursday, January 21st, 2021

We have six NHL games on the schedule for Thursday, January 21st, and these are our betting picks and predictions.

Free NHL Picks Today for Thursday, January 21st, 2021
Picks & Predictions
Thu 21st January 2021

Some awesome games on for your Thursday viewing. Who will come out on top today?

Find all of our free NHL picks for the scheduled games below!

Philadelphia Flyers @ Boston Bruins – 7:00 PM ET

The Philadelphia Flyers are off to a fast start, winning their third game of the season after shutting out Buffalo, 3-0. Brian Elliott stopped all 40 shots he faced, and Kevin Hayes had a goal and an assist in the victory. Philadelphia moves to 3-1-0 and are now atop the East Division.

Philadelphia is led in scoring by Travis Konecny who has four goals and two assists, leading the team with a +5 rating. He has been quite accurate, scoring on four of his nine shots this season. Elliott has been the better goaltender, posting a 1.31 goals-against average and is to start. He also has an impressive .964 save percentage.


The Boston Bruins dropped to 1-1-1 after being shut out by the New York Islanders, 1-0 on Monday. Boston got outstanding goaltending out of Tuuka Rask who stopped 16 of 17 shots. The offense could simply not get a goal past the Islanders netminder.

Goal scoring has been a problem for Boston early on. They have just for goals but have only allowed five through the first three games. Brad Marchand is the leading scorer with three points (1 G, 2 A).  Rask has an impressive 1.46 GAA while Jaroslav Halak has posted a 1.85 GAA.


NHL Pick – Philadelphia Flyers (+110)
NHL Spread – Philadelphia Flyers +1.5 (-247)
Game Totals Pick – Under 5.5 (-115)

New Jersey Devils @ New York Islanders – 7:00 PM ET

The New Jersey Devils moved to 2-0-1 after a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday. The Devils got two goals and an assist from Jack Hughes to lead the offense. He is having quite a start to the season, recording two goals and four assists to give him six points. Miles Wood is the leading goal scorer with three.

Mackenzie Blackwood has been in net for all three games for the Devils, posting an impressive 1.90 GAA and a .948 save percentage. New Jersey has allowed only seven goals this season but have scored only eight.


The New York Islanders moved to 2-1-0 after shutting out Boston on Monday, 1-0. Semyon Varlamov was absolutely brilliant, stopping all 27 shots he faced. The Islanders netminder has yet to give up a goal this season, stopping all 51 shots he has faced. New York has allowed only five goals this year, but they have also only scored five. Anders Lee has two of New York’s goals.

NHL Pick – New York Islanders (-145)
NHL Spread – New Jersey Devils +1.5 (-201)
Game Totals Pick – Under 5.5 (-136)

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Columbus Blue Jackets – 7:00 PM ET

Tampa Bay has been off since sweeping the Chicago Blackhawks to open the season. It will be six days before they take on Columbus, so how much rust this team has after all such a long layoff will be an interesting factor in this game.


Tampa Bay has scored 10 goals the season while allowing only three. Steven Stamkos has two goals and three assists to lead the team in scoring. Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in both contests and has a 1.50 GAA and a .950 save percentage.

Columbus has lost three of their first four games, including an overtime loss to Detroit on Tuesday, 3-2. The goaltending has not been outstanding but has been solid, as the team has allowed 13 goals but only scored eight through the first four contests.


Joonas Korpisalo has been the better of the two netminders, posting a 2.04 goals-against average a .944 save percentage. The quartet of Alexandre Texier, Boone Jenner, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Michael Del Zotto have scored six of the team’s eight goals and have a combined total of 13 points. The rest of the team has seven total points.

NHL Pick – Tampa Bay Lightning (-172)
NHL Spread – Tampa Bay Lightning -1.5 (+308)
Game Totals Pick – Under 6.5 (-105)

Winnipeg Jets @ Ottawa Senators – 7:00 PM ET

Winnipeg is to-1-0, winning both of their games and overtime, including a 4-3 victory over Ottawa on Tuesday. The Jets got two assists from both Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey in the victory. Laurent Brossoit did give up three goals in the game, but two of those came when Ottawa had the man advantage.

It will likely be that Connor Hellebuyck will be in net for Winnipeg. He has a 2.51 GAA and a .921 save percentage. The Jets are led in scoring by Kyle Connor who has three goals and two assists.


After losing on Tuesday Ottawa drops to 1-1-1. Ottawa had an early 2-1 lead, but Matt Murray could not hold it, giving up a goal in each period, including the overtime session.

Murray has started all three games, posting a 3.30 GAA and an .890 save percentage. Nikita Zaitsev leads the team with four assists. Ottawa is getting plenty of goalscoring down the roster, as nine different players have at least one goal this season.

NHL Pick – Winnipeg Jets (-126)
NHL Spread – Winnipeg Jets -1.5 (+236)
Game Totals Pick – Over 6.0

Florida Panthers @ Carolina Hurricanes – 7:00 PM ET

*This game was postponed due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, a new date has not been confirmed at this time*

Montreal Canadiens @ Vancouver Canucks – 9:30 PM ET

After losing their first game of the season in overtime, Montréal has responded with two outstanding performances, sweeping Edmonton thanks to a 3-1 victory over the Oilers on Monday.

It should be noted at the time of this writing that Vancouver and Montréal will play each other Wednesday night as well, but the results were not known prior to this article being written. The Canadians allowed a single goal in both games to Edmonton.


The combination of Jake Allen and Carey Price have been fantastic. It is likely that Price will start on Wednesday, so Allen (1.01 GAA) should be in the net on Thursday. Jeff Petry leads the team in scoring with two goals and three assists. Tomas Tatar has three goals this year.


Vancouver opened the season with a victory over Edmonton but has dropped three straight heading into Wednesday’s contest against Montréal. The goaltending has been abysmal for the Canucks, as they have allowed 16 goals, the most in the NHL Braden Holtby has been the better of the two netminders, posting a 3.01 GAA and a .909 save percentage.

NHL Pick – Montréal Canadiens (-108)
NHL Spread – Montréal Canadiens -1.5 (+226)
Game Totals Pick – Under 6.5 (-110)

Colorado Avalanche @ Los Angeles Kings – 10:00 PM ET

Colorado won their second straight game after defeating the Kings on Tuesday night, 3-2. Nathan MacKinnon continued his torrid start with two assists, reaching the 500 point plateau for his career. MacKinnon leads the team with five points. Four players on the Avalanche have scored two goals this season.

Philipp Grubauer has been in net for all three games for Colorado, posting a 2.01 GAA and a .923 save percentage. Colorado has scored 12 goals and allowed six, giving them a +6 goal differential, tied for the top mark in the NHL.


The loss kept Los Angeles winless this season (0-1-2). Calvin Petersen made his first start of the season between the pipes and played well, allowing three goals on 24 shots.

Los Angeles has scored eight goals in their three games, but it has been three players who have provided all of the offense to this point. Jeff Carter and Anze Kopitar lead the team with four points each. Andreas Athanasiou has three goals.


NHL Pick – Colorado Avalanche (-174)
NHL Spread – Los Angeles Kings +1.5 (-714)
Game Totals Pick – Under 5.5 (-125)

The 2021 NHL season is here! If you want to catch up with all the latest information, make sure you visit our NHL hub page.

*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of Bet365.

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