Free NHL Picks Today for Wednesday, May 12th, 2021

Free NHL Picks Today for Wednesday, May 12th, 2021
Wed 12th May 2021

There are less than two weeks of regular season games to play in this epic year of NHL! With just the 5 games on the agenda today,  we didn’t have to narrow down our picks, we’ve got them all covered here! Have a read below for all our NHL picks.

Edmonton Oilers @ Montreal Canadiens – 5.00 PM EDT

The Oilers and the Candadiens do battle again today in Montreal following their 7 goal thriller on Monday which took a Connor McDavid overtime goal for the Oilers to claim the 2 points.

It was a back and forth game, with the Canadiens opening the scoring through Jake Evans before the Oilers scored the next 2, closing out the first term with a 2-1 lead. 5 minutes into the second term Paul Byron buried the equaliser assisted by Evans, but Dominik Kahun cancelled the goal out not long after to reclaim the lead.

Artturi Lehkonen scored the lone goal in the final period to once again tie the score up, and this time the Oilers weren’t able to find another, sending the match to overtime.

Halfway through the additional time Connor McDavid buried the game winner assisted by his right hand man, Leon Draisaitl. It was the 11th game winning goal of McDavid’s season, and his 102nd point of the campaign.

With the defeat, and following the Jets’ win yesterday, the Canadiens secured 4th place in the North Division, rendering today’s game meaningless as they prepare to face the Maple Leafs in the playoffs.

The Oilers finish second, with their playoff opponent now set to be the struggling Winnipeg Jets, a result that is likely to please the Edmonton side given how dominant they have been over them this season.

NHL Pick – Edmonton Oilers (-122)
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Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators – 8.00 PM EDT

The freshly crowned North Division champions, the Maple Leafs, travel to Ottawa today following back to back wins over the Canadiens on home soil, winning 8-4 on aggregate over the 2 games.

With a record of 35-13-6, the Maple Leafs have a 6 point lead over the second place Oilers, and have looked the best team for the entire year. The Toronto side have the best offensive, and defensive record in the league, and boast a winning record over every team in the division.

They now hit the road for the final 2 games of their season, starting with a match against the Ottawa Senators who they currently lead 5 games to 3 on the head to head. 

Since going 1-7-1 through the opening month of the campaign, the Senators failed to make much happen all season, often struggling to string together good performances, and let down by a poor defense and questionable goaltending.

Over the last 10 games the Senators have found their feet, with a record of 7-2-1 over the last 10 games, unfortunately, they have left this improvement far too late, and look set for a wooden spoon finish pending the Canucks remaining 5 games.

NHL Pick – Toronto Maple Leafs (-198)
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Vegas Golden Knights @ San Jose Sharks – 9.00 PM EDT

The Knights missed out on their chance to put to bed the final division title race in the NHL, with their 2-1 defeat to the Avs on Monday drawing them to within 2 points of the Colorado side.

While the Avs still have 2 games to play, the Knights will be wrapping up their season today, and a win against the Sharks would have them sitting in a good position to claim the title given their goal differential advantage.

With a record of 39-14-2, no team in the league has more wins than the Golden Knights, furthermore they boast the best goal difference in the NHL with +61, and will likely finish the season with a flawless overtime record of 9-0.

They travel to San Jose for their final game of the season, and having beaten the Sharks in all 7 games so far this season, the Knights will be expecting to take the points and secure the division title today. 

After back to back defeats at the hands of the Coyotes, the Sharks wrap up their calamitous season today with another home game, and given their form of late they will be happy to put this campaign to bed. 

With just 21 wins to their name, the Sharks consistently failed to build momentum this season, thanks in no small part to their terrible defending which saw them concede 193 goals, and lose a whopping 18 games by >3 goals, a statistic worsened by only one other team.

NHL Pick – Vegas Golden Knights (-188)
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Los Angeles Kings @ Colorado Avalanche – 9.00 PM EDT

The Kings wrapped up a disappointing 3 game homestand with an overtime defeat to the Blues on Monday, the result is in keeping with the theme of the Kings’ season, having consistently underperformed on home soil, sporting a record of 9-14-5, only 3 teams in the league performed worse when playing at home.

Their recent game against the Blues was consistent with their overall performance throughout the latter half of the season, losing 2-1 the Kings failed to convert their chances despite taking 27 shots. From the 27 games the Kings have played since the midway point of the year, they have only scored 4 goals in a game on 7 occasions, and have not scored more than 4 goals once.

The Kings now hit the road for their remaining 2 games of the season, both of which are set to be played against the Avs who have dominated the head to head this season with 5 wins from 6.

Having won their last 3 games consecutively, the Avs are coming into this one hot, picking up back to back wins over the Kings in L.A before heading to Vegas and scoring a huge 2-1 win over the Knights, keeping their division title hopes alive for another day.

If the Avs can sweep the Kings at home and claim the top spot in the division then they will be in the far more favourable position of playing the Blues in the playoffs, as opposed to the Wild who they are currently slated to play.

NHL Pick – Colorado Avalanche (-360)
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Minnesota Wild @ St Louis Blues – 9.00 PM EDT

The Wild and the Blues tee off against each other for their final 2 games of the season, however, with their place in the playoffs already determined, and with either team’s playoff opponent not influenced by the result, the matchup is mostly meaningless.

The Wild enter this game off the back of 2 home wins in 2 days over the Ducks, both of which were won 4-3 in overtime. Kirill Kaprizov gave a standout performance in both games, contributing a goal and assist in their first, and backing it up with 2 assists in the second. Kaprizov leads the Wild for points and is in excellent form ahead of the playoffs.

The Blues snapped out of their losing ways with a win, albeit an unconvincing one, against the Kings on Monday. For the third time in 4 games, the Blues went to overtime, fortunately this time they were able to emerge victorious, something they were unable to do from their previous 3 overtime situations.

They return to St Louis to see out the regular season, and in a bid to finish strong on home soil, we imagine the Blues will be giving this game more than the Wild, and following some strong performances away to the Minnesota side, the Blues look like great value to take the points today.

NHL Pick – St Louis Blues (+120)
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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.

Connor is a passionate writer and sporting fanatic, with a focus on all things soccer, NBA, and NHL. Happy to chew your ear off about his beloved Tottenham Hotspur, or talk odds on the latest ball game. Connor always delivers the latest in breaking news, matchday analysis and predictions.