Some awesome games on for your mid-week viewing. Who will come out on top today?
Find all of our free NHL picks for the scheduled games below!
Edmonton Oilers @ Toronto Maple Leafs – 7:00 PM ET
The Edmonton Oilers are struggling to start the season, dropping three of their first four games. They have scored a single goal in each of their last two contests, including a 3-1 loss to the Montréal Canadiens on Monday.
Mikko Koskinen played well in net, stopping 31 of 34 shots. That is a dramatic improvement over Saturday night’s loss when he gave up five goals. Koskinen has a 3.80 GAA and a .897 save percentage. Connor McDavid leads the team in scoring with three goals and two assists. Leon Draisaitl is tied for the team lead with five points, all assists.
A little early season @Marner93 magic 🪄#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/L6CgQaQ1X2
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 20, 2021
Toronto has won their last two games, including a 3-1 victory over Winnipeg on Monday. The Maple Leafs got an outstanding performance in the pipes out of Frederik Andersen who stopped 27 of 28 shots.
That helped Andersen drop his goals-against average to 3.32 and improved his save percentage to .881. John Taveras and Mitchell Marner lead the team in scoring with three goals and three assists each. Toronto has allowed 12 total goals through the first four contests, with five of those coming against Ottawa last Friday.
NHL Pick – Toronto Maple Leafs (-150)
NHL Spread – Toronto Maple Leafs -1.5 (+150)
Game Totals Pick – Under 6.5 (+100)
San Jose Sharks @ St. Louis Blues – 9:00 PM ET
San Jose opened the season with a shootout victory over the Arizona Coyotes, but have dropped each of the last two games, giving up five goals in each contest. On Monday, a four goal second period by St. Louis doomed the Sharks who were unable to rebound.
Devan Dubnyk gave up five goals on 33 shots and now has a 4.23 GAA. Neither Sharks goalies are performing well early on. Martin Jones goals-against average is 4.34, and both netminders have save percentages under .870. Tomas Hertl has been a bright spot early on with three goals and three assists. Even more amazing is that his three goals have come on just six shots.
At least a point in 15 of his first 20 games. What a start for our Prospect of the Week! pic.twitter.com/oRgdBbdEv8
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 20, 2021
After splitting a pair of games with Colorado, St. Louis moved to 2-1-0 with the victory over San Jose on Monday. Jordan Binnington shook off a tough first to stop 22 of 26 shots for the victory. Justin Faulk scored two goals for the Blues. St. Louis has scored just nine goals through the first three games with three players leading with two goals each.
NHL Pick – St. Louis Blues (-180)
NHL Spread – San Jose Sharks +1.5 (-155)
Game Totals Pick – Over 6 (-110)
Minnesota Wild @ Anaheim Ducks – 9:30 PM ET
Minnesota opened the season with back-to-back 4-3 victories in overtime over the Los Angeles Kings. They lost to Anaheim on Monday, 1-0. Cam Talbot was solid in net for Minnesota, stopping 26 of 27 shots. He has played in all three games this season, posting a 2.27 GAA and a .926 say percentage. Kirill Kaprizov leads the team in scoring with four points.
After losing their first two games of the season to Vegas, Anaheim returned home and got a stellar performance out of Josh Gibson to shut out Minnesota. Gibson stopped all 34 shots he faced, and Nicolas Deslauriers gave him all the support he needed with his first goal of the season.
NEWS: The #mnwild has acquired defenseman Ian Cole from the Colorado @Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Greg Pateryn.
🗞 » https://t.co/iWISZ3yKdE pic.twitter.com/JU0KuM7tfy
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 19, 2021
Gibson has also started all three games for his team, posting a 2.03 GAA and a .937 percentage. Max Comtois is leading Anaheim with three goals. Sadly, the team has only scored four goals the season while allowing seven.
NHL Pick – Minnesota Wild (-135)
NHL Spread – Anaheim Ducks +1.5 (-210)
Game Totals Pick – Under 5 (-110)
Montreal Canadiens @ Vancouver Canucks – 10:00 PM ET
After defeating Edmonton for the second straight time, Montréal moved to 2-0-1 with their only loss being an overtime defeat to Toronto on opening night. Montréal allowed just a single goal in each of the victories over the Oilers.
After giving up five goals to the Maple Leafs, Carey Price responded by allowing one goal on Saturday. Jake Allen had the one goal allowed performance on Monday. The Canadians have now allowed seven total goals and are +5 in goal differential.
That pass though!? 😱#Canucks | @remaxwesterncan pic.twitter.com/jUhBUj2dbA
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 19, 2021
Vancouver opened the season with a victory over the Oilers, but have dropped three straight. That included a 5-2 loss to Calgary on Monday. Thatcher Demko gave up four goals on 31 shots. The Canucks are struggling between the pipes, giving up 16 goals, the most in the NHL so far.
NHL Pick – Montréal Canadiens (-125)
NHL Spread – Montréal Canadiens -1.5 (+180)
Game Totals Pick – Under 6.0 (-110)
Arizona Coyotes @ Vegas Golden Knights – 10:00 PM ET
After splitting a pair of games with San Jose to start the season, Arizona lost to Vegas on Monday, 4-2. The Coyotes had a 2-0 lead, but four unanswered goals erased their lead and led to the loss. Darcy Kuemper stopped 24 of 27 shots.
He now moves to 0-1-1 with a 2.95 GAA and a .903 save percentage. Despite losing two of their first three games, Arizona has been solid in net with backup Antti Raanta posting a 3.01 GAA and a .912 save percentage. Jakob Chychrun leads the team with a goal and three assists.
Back to work. pic.twitter.com/s0C0WR81gG
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) January 19, 2021
The Golden Knights are undefeated through the first three games of the season. After sweeping a pair from Anaheim, they defeated Arizona. Goaltending has been the key for Vegas, as they have allowed five total goals through the first three games.
Robin Lehner has a 2.01 GAA and a .926 save percentage while Marc-Andre Fleury has a 1.01 GAA and a .955 save percentage. Vegas has scored 11 goals this season and have the largest goal differential in the NHL at +6.
NHL Pick – Vegas Golden Knights (-200)
NHL Spread – Vegas Golden Knights -1.5 (+120)
Game Totals Pick – Under 5.5 (+100)
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.
