Despite COVID-19 continuing to wreak havoc on the NHL schedule, we are still lucky to have some games on today that aren’t postponed. We are loving the action throughout this impressive NHL season so far. As we move towards the mid way point in the season, each division’s ladder is starting to take shape. Every single win or loss can have a significant impact on where each team will finish at the end of the season, so it is important that you don’t miss any of the action!
Here at SportsTips, we are just as keen on the NHL as you are! We spend each and every day going through the best games and previewing them for you. Our experts offer up their free NHL picks, which means that you not only get enjoyment out of watching some intriguing games, but also make extra cash while doing so!
Look below to find our free NHL picks, as we preview the best five games on today’s schedule.
Carolina Hurricanes @ Boston Bruins – 7.00PM ET
The Carolina Hurricanes hit the road for just one game, and on Tuesday night they face off against the Boston Bruins. The Hurricanes are coming into this game with a season record of 25-8-2, and they have won two of their last four games. The Bruins are currently on a five game winning streak, which includes wins over the Lightning, Capitals, Canadiens, Flyers and Predators.
Denis Kirilov
The Carolina Hurricanes will travel to Boston on Tuesday in an attempt to put an end to the Bruins’ 5-game winning streak. The Hurricanes have been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL this season and they surely know how to deal with such an opponent. Moreover, their offence has also been dominating the ice with Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, and Teuvo Teravainen leading the way for them. They are currently 4th in the Eastern Conference with 52 points out of 35 games.
The Boston Bruins enjoyed a fantastic start to 2022 after winning 8 out of 9 matches. They have managed to defeat the likes of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals in away games, while being dominant against lower-tier opponents at home. The sole loss came against the Minnesota Wild in a dramatic match that ended 2-3 in favour of their opponents. Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron have been playing on a high level recently as they are ready to prove their worth against one of the best teams in the NHL. In my opinion, we might see yet another victory for the Bruins in their TD Garden, so I will go ahead and pick their victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
Denis’ NHL Pick: Boston Bruins (-140)
Tony Battalio
The Carolina Hurricanes come into this game as one of the top teams in the National Hockey League so far this season. They are currently sitting in the driver’s seat of the Atlantic Division with a record of 25-8-2 through their first 35 games of the year. Carolina broke a two game losing streak with a victory over the Vancouver Canucks in their last contest by a score of 4-1. They will be looking to break the Bruins winning streak and pick up a second straight victory with a win on the road in this one.
1⃣0⃣0⃣ points for Marty Necas pic.twitter.com/bpTu6W34uS
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 17, 2022
The Boston Bruins come into this game with a record of 22-11-2 through their first 34 games of the year. They have won their last five games and picked up victories in eight of their last nine games dating back to the beginning of the month. They will be looking to add to that streak with a huge win over one of the top teams in the league in this one at home. However, as for the result of this game, I just don’t see that happening as I have the Carolina Hurricanes picking up the victory over Boston in this game on the road.
Tony’s NHL Pick: Carolina Hurricanes (+116)
Jeffery Thomas
Tuesday night in Boston, and we get a matchup of two of the hottest teams in the league. These two previously met way back on October 28th where it was the Hurricanes who came out with the 3-0 shutout victory. This Bruins team however, is playing way better these days and will be looking to avenge that earlier defeat. The Hurricanes come into this one off of a 4-1 victory to the Canucks after an uncharacteristic 0-6 loss to Columbus the game before.
Ever since the calendar flipped to January, the Boston Bruins have been elite, putting up an 8-1-0 record. It’s also hard to ignore their 21-8 head to head record in their last 29 matchups with the Hurricanes. The way I see Carolina winning this one is if Rask has signs of rust against Carolina’s potent offense or if Boston’s PP isn’t lighting the lamp. I’m not counting on those things to happen though, as I see Boston getting their revenge at home Tuesday night in what will surely be a very entertaining game.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Boston Bruins (-140)
Winnipeg Jets @ Washington Capitals – 7.00PM ET
The Winnipeg Jets kick off a four game road trip when they take on the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. The Jets have won four of their last five games and this takes their season record to 17-12-5. The Capitals have been slipping as of late, winning just one of their last six games.
Denis Kirilov
The Winnipeg Jets will try to take advantage of the decline in the Washington Capitals’ performance since the beginning of 2022. The Capitals have lost 5 out of their last 6 matches in the NHL and some of these losses have been concerning. For instance, they suffered a hard defeat to the Boston Bruins, 3-7, which was followed by a surprising loss to the Vancouver Canucks who will most likely be in the battle for one of the last Playoffs spots in the Western Conference. Alexander Ovechkin might have been scoring here and there, but the rest on the squad have been highly underperforming recently.
The Winning Jets have already taken advantage of some of the top teams’ decline in performance as they defeated the Vegas Golden Knights and the St. Louis Blues in back-to-back matches. They are currently on a 4-1 run, but that loss can easily even things up with all the other victories. They were squandered by the Colorado Avalanche in one of the most one-sided games in 2022 so far, losing 1-7. The team has been performing on a high level on the road, but I am reluctant to pick a winner here. In my opinion, the two teams will play more defensively and we won’t see that many goals throughout the match.
Denis’ NHL Pick: Under 6 (-118)
Tony Battalio
The Winnipeg Jets come into this one with a record of 17-12-5 through their first 34 games on the season, as they are sitting right at the .500 mark. The Jets have won four of their last five games dating back to the middle of December. They will be looking for a big win in this one as they currently sit in fifth place in the Central Division, 12 points back of the lead and three points out of a Western Conference Wild Card spot. This game is the start of a four game road trip for the Jets that will take them to Nashville, Boston, and Pittsburgh as well.
The Washington Capitals come into this one with a record of 21-9-9 through their first 39 games of the season. They are in third place of the Metropolitan Division as the season progresses towards the halfway point. As long as Alexander Ovechkin remains healthy, the Capitals are a Stanley Cup contender this season. He is also on his mission to pass Wayne Gretzky for the all time goal record, and while it won’t happen this season, he is still scoring goals at a premium. As for the result of this game, I have the Capitals picking up the victory over the Jets at home.
Tony’s NHL Pick: Washington Capitals (-146)
Jeffery Thomas
The Washington Capitals come into this one having lost 5 of their past 6 games but still sit 3rd in the Metro. The last outing was a 2-4 loss at home to the Vancouver Canucks. The offense has been sputtering a bit lately, but is 10th in the league in goals scored per game, and finds itself in a good spot to regain its form Tuesday against Winnipeg. The Jets on the other hand come in on a bit of a hot steak, winning 4 of the last 5 games. Those wins have come against the Blues, Knights, Coyotes, and Red Wings with the lone loss coming to the Stanley Cup contending Avalanche. They also have a lot to play for in this one as they are still chasing down a very attainable playoff spot.
Looking at this one, it’s a matchup of two teams heading in different directions. It would be easy to just take the team who comes in riding the hot streak, but that’s not what I am going to do in this one. The Capitals are the better team and have too much firepower to continue staying this cold. This is the perfect bounce back spot against a Winnipeg team who has dropped 20 of their past 26 games in Washington, including 8 straight. Take the Capitals to turn the tide and get a big win Tuesday night.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Washington Capitals (-146)
Vancouver Canucks @ Nashville Predators – 8.00PM ET
The Vancouver Canucks’ tough five game road trip is coming to a close on Tuesday night when they face off against the Nashville Predators. The Canucks have gone 1-3-0 so far in this road trip, as they lost to teams like the Panthers, Lightning and Hurricanes. The Predators are playing on back-to-back nights, and last time out they lost to the Blues, 3-5.
Denis Kirilov
The Nashville Predators will host the Vancouver Canucks in what promises to be a very compelling contest on Tuesday night in the NHL. The Predators have been the sweet surprise this season so far as they currently sit in 3rd place in the Western Conference with 51 points to their name. The team, however, entered a negative run throughout the last week, losing three matches in a row. They were first surprised by the Buffalo Sabres at home which was followed by two losses to a lot better teams like the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues.
The Vancouver Canucks have been slightly hit by COVID-19 as five of their players are sidelined due to showing positive tests. However, this didn’t have a great impact on their performance, since they managed to defeat the Washington Capitals on the road on Saturday. This will be their 9th straight game on the road, which will be their last one for the streak as well. Their disciplined defence has won them plenty of matches around Christmas and gave them a second chance at making the Playoffs at the end of the Regular Season. However, I think that the Predators will take advantage of the current circumstances within the Canucks and they will hand them their 4th loss in five games and at the same time, putting an end to their own losing streak.
Denis’ NHL Pick: Nashville Predators (-137)
Tony Battalio
The Vancouver Canucks come into this game with a record of 17-18-3 through their first 38 games of the season. It has been an up and down season for the Canucks as they have failed to get any real momentum going. In their last game they defeated the Washington Capitals by a score of 4-2. The win over Washington snapped a three game losing streak for Vancouver. They are currently sitting in seventh place of the Pacific Division as they are in danger of falling completely out of the playoff race if they don’t get the wheels turning soon.
We’ll see y’all tomorrow night 🥲@koorsenfire | #Preds pic.twitter.com/wSDNlpn6os
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) January 18, 2022
The Nashville Predators will be playing the second game of a back to back in this contest. In their game last night they played a tough and resilient St. Louis Blues team. They came out of that game with a loss that brought their record on the season to 24-13-3 through their first 40 games of the season. Nashville is currently sitting in first place as they head into this huge Central Division clash with the Canucks. As for the result of this game, I have Nashville picking up the victory over Vancouver in this one.
Tony’s NHL Pick: Nashville Predators (-137)
Jeffery Thomas
The Nashville Predators will kick off a 3 game home stand when they play host to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. They are on a back to back, having suffered a defeat to the Blues on Monday 3-5. It has been a bit of a downturn for them, losing 3 straight, after a 5 game winning streak to start the month of January. The Canucks are not coming into this one in the best of form either as they’ve lost 3 of 5 (all on the road). They have struggled all season as they sit 7th in the Pacific Division, with a record of 17-18-3. They are however, coming off an impressive 4-2 victory over the Caps that they will hope can springboard some type of run heading into the next stretch of the season.
Despite being a slumping squad, it’s hard to overlook the fact that the Predators are the better team in this one. However, coupling that with the fact they are on a back to back gives me pause to just take them to right the ship all of a sudden. I actually like the Canucks chances to come into Nashville and steal a win. I’ll just take the easy bet though, on the puck line for the Canucks, as I do not see them losing this one by more than 2 goals.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Vancouver Canucks +1.5 (-220)
Florida Panthers @ Calgary Flames – 9.00PM ET
The Florida Panthers kick off a five game road trip and their first stop is Calgary to take on the Flames. The Panthers have won eight of their last nine games, and this includes a current four game winning streak. The Flames, on the other hand, are currently on a four game losing streak, and this drops their season record to 17-11-6.
Denis Kirilov
The Florida Panthers and the Calgary Flames were one of the top performers in the early part of the season. The Flames, however, took a serious hit in December as most of their players tested positive for COVID-19. The team eventually lost four games in a row, before postponing everything in the next 20 days. Then, they came back with two victories over some of the weakest teams in the NHL – the Seattle Kraken and the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, they had to face some really strong opponents in the upcoming games as they lost each single match on the road and to top it off, they suffered a 1-4 defeat to the Ottawa Senators at home. One of these games was a 2-6 defeat to the Florida Panthers two weeks ago.
The Panthers, on the other hand, are enjoying a fantastic season so far. The team has been storming the NHL since the beginning of the campaign as they continue to lead the East with 57 points out of 38 matches. Moreover, Jonathan Huberdeau caught up with Leon Draisaitl, Alexander Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid who were on the top of the individual leaderboards for a long, long time. The Panthers are coming into this fixture on a 4-game winning streak as they have simply been incredible since the restart of the Regular Season. The team has scored an average of 6 goals throughout their last 9 games which is out-of-this-world. I think that their performance will take a serious hit soon, but I doubt this will happen against the Calgary Flames. My pick here goes in favour of the Florida Panthers who have proven to be the much better team at the moment.
Denis’ NHL Pick: Florida Panthers (-140)
Tony Battalio
The Florida Panthers are one of the top contenders to knock off the two time defending Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. They will kick off a five game road trip by heading north of the border to play the Flames in this one. The Panthers currently hold a record of 26-7-5 through their first 38 games on the season. Florida has won their last four games and eight of their last nine dating back to the end of December. Florida’s road trip will take them from Calgary to Edmonton, Vancouver, and Seattle.
The Calgary Flames come into this game with a record of 17-11-6 through their first 34 games on the season. They are currently in fifth place of the Pacific Division as the season is approaching the halfway mark. They are currently on a four game losing streak coming into this one so they will be looking for a huge win. As for the result of this game, I don’t think it will get much better for the Flames, as I have the Panthers picking up the victory in this one on the road, to get their four game trip off on the right start.
Tony’s NHL Pick: Florida Panthers (-140)
Jeffery Thomas
The Florida Panthers are another one of these teams that have just been red hot since coming back from the Christmas break, having won 8 of 9. Although 7 of those wins have come at home, including their last outing, which was a 9-2 drubbing of the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the start of a four game road trip for the Panthers, who are tied with the Lightning for the lead in the Atlantic Division. Calgary is looking to shake this cold spell they’re on as they’ve dropped 4 straight and given up an average of 5 goals in those losses. That spells disaster, with the leading goal scoring team coming in on Tuesday.
It’s not every game that you will catch the Florida Panthers below a -200 favorite in any game, so this is a prime opportunity to get great value on what I see as a very comfortable victory for the explosive Panthers. The over is also a good look as it has cashed in 5 of Calgary’s last 7 and 21 of Florida’s last 29. If you want to parlay the moneyline for Florida and the over 6.5, I wouldn’t talk you out of that but I’m just going to take what I see the best value is on the NHL slate on Tuesday.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Florida Panthers (-140)
Tampa Bay Lightning @ Los Angeles Kings – 10.00PM ET
The final game on Tuesday night’s slate will see the Tampa Bay Lightning travel to Los Angeles to take on the Kings. The Lightning are currently on a three game winning streak, as they have been victorious over the Sabres, Canucks and Stars recently. The Kings are playing on back-to-back days, and last time out they lost to the Sharks, 2-6.
Denis Kirilov
The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to prolong their winning streak to 4 games after their visit to Los Angeles on Tuesday. The defending champions have had their ups and downs since the restart in the NHL, as they took off quite hesitant with three straight losses to the likes of the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers. However, they managed to pick up some pace later on after achieving dominant victories over opponents including the Calgary Flames, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Buffalo Sabres.
The Los Angeles Kings have been a totally different team since the Christmas Break. They are currently on a 6-2 run defeating the likes of the New York Rangers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Detroit Red Wings. Their defence has been fantastic in this period, allowing just a couple of goals in most cases. This progress launched them to 6th place in the West and to 2nd place in the Pacific Division, being only behind the Vegas Golden Knights. To me, they are capable of surprising the reigning champions who have disappointed their fans more than once this season, despite being on the top in the East. However, the Kings are slightly short-handed due to COVID-19 and injuries, and this might take its toll on the hosts. That’s why I will go with a more unorthodox pick here choosing the “tie”.
Denis’ NHL Pick: Tie (+340)
Tony Battalio
The Tampa Bay Lightning come into this game on a three game winning streak as their quest to three peat takes them to the City of Angels this time around. On their three game winning streak they have picked up victories over the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, and Dallas Stars. They come into this game with a record of 26-9-5 through their first 40 games on the season. As the season reaches the halfway point, the Tampa Bay Lightning are currently sitting in second place of the Atlantic Division. They will be looking for a big win in this one.
Back home tomorrow. @GEICO | #BundlingMadeEasy pic.twitter.com/ZOmcLwzWrq
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 17, 2022
The Los Angeles Kings will be playing the second leg of back to back games when they hit the ice at home for this one to play the two time defending Stanley Cup Champions. In the first leg of their back to back they fell victim to a historic performance. As the San Jose Sharks put up six goals, five of them came from Timo Meier as he set a San Jose record. Now, they will be looking to bounce back against a much tougher opponent in this one. However, as for the result of this game I do not see that happening as I have Tampa Bay picking up the victory over Los Angeles on the road.
Tony’s NHL Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning (-205)
Jeffery Thomas
The Kings will look for a bounce back performance after suffering a beat down at the hands of division rival, San Jose on Monday. With the two-time defending champs, the Lightning, that will not be an easy task though. Speaking of the Lightning, they come in winners of 5 of their last 6, including 3 straight.
Having brought back the core of their two championship runs, it’s championship or bust again this year for Tampa. They are currently tied with the Panthers for most points in the entire league and will look to add to that total on Tuesday in Los Angeles. They are the better team, who also have more depth and I expect that to carry them to a victory over the Kings. I am taking the moneyline in this one and expecting a pretty straight forward win for the champs.
Jeffery’s NHL Pick: Tampa Bay Lightning (-205)
If you’re looking for more NHL news, information and predictions, head over to our NHL hub page for all your ice hockey needs!
*Odds and spreads correct at time of writing, courtesy of FanDuel.
