There is less than a month of regular season games to play in this already epic year of NHL! With 9 games on the agenda today, we have handpicked the 5 which we feel are the most exciting, or the most likely to line your pockets. Have a read below for all our NHL picks.
Nashville Predators @ Columbus Blue Jackets – 7.00 PM (EDT)
The Predators and the Blue Jackets go again today following their overtime finish on Monday which saw the Predators take the points after a 6 goal regulation period.
With 70 shots between them it was a fast paced match, and after a goalless first period it was a game of 2 halves, with the Preds dominating the second term and the Blue Jackets taking the reins in the third.
Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen both bagged a goal and an assist in the second term before Roman Josi added the third with just a minute left to play.
The home side looked down and out going into the final term, but an unlikely hero emerged for the Blue Jackets in the form of Emil Bermstrom, the rookie bagged all 3 of their goals within a 15 minute window for his first career hat trick.
Bermstrom’s legendary hat trick sent the game to overtime, and after 3 goalless minutes Roman Josi popped up with the decisive goal, his second for the game, to give the Predators the win.
𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑨𝑵. 𝑱𝑶𝑺𝑰. pic.twitter.com/VSS2uitmwR
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) May 4, 2021
It was a huge win for the Preds who see themselves move to 4 points clear of their only playoff threat, the Stars, following their defeat to the Panthers.
The Preds now lead the head to head against the Blue Jackets by 6 games to 1, and after nearly throwing away what should have been a routine win on Monday they will be cautious ahead of this match.
NHL Pick – Nashville Predators (-174)
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Washington Capitals @ New York Rangers – 7.00 PM (EDT)
The Rangers get another crack at the Capitals today after their painful 6-3 defeat to the second place side on Monday.
It was a well needed win for the Caps following their home soil 2 game sweep at the hands of the Penguins over the weekend which saw them lose their place on the top of the East Division.
Despite giving away a whopping 22 penalty minutes the Caps still attempted 40 shots to the Rangers 26, however, the win didn’t come easily, with the Caps taking a 2 goal lead early only to concede the next 3 straight.
The score was locked up at 3-3 going into the final term when the Capitals broke away thanks to an unassisted goal from Daniel Sprong, eventually adding 2 more to blow the scoreline out.
Nic Dowd, Garnet Hathaway and Tom Wilson all notched a goal and assisted another for the Caps. 2 of the Rangers’ goals unsurprisingly came from Mika Zibanejad, while Artemi Panarin picked up his 58th point of the season with his 2 assist effort.
The Rangers are officially out of contention to reach the playoffs, but they lead the head to head against the Caps 4-3 and are playing for the bragging rights today.
NHL Pick – Washington Capitals (-122)
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Montreal Canadiens @ Ottawa Senators – 7.00 PM (EDT)
The Canadiens are coming into this one off the back of a 3-2 overtime win on Monday against the division leaders, the Maple Leafs.
It was the third straight win for the Montreal side, more than they had won from the 7 games before that, putting them in a good position to reach the playoffs.
They came back from a 1 goal deficit on 2 occasions to force the Maple Leafs, with Tyler Toffoli and Philip Danault both scoring in regulation time.
With just 20 seconds left to play in overtime, Nick Suzuki and Jeff Petry teed up Cole Caulfield with the game winning goal to complete the comeback win.
24 heures plus tard, et on n’est toujours pas tanné.
24h later, how many times have you watched this?#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/7SpfRt9qoh
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) May 5, 2021
All 3 of the Habs’ goals were assisted by Suzuki and Petry, the latter of which leads the team for total assists with 28.
The Senators are running hot at the moment, the Ottawa side boasts a last 10 record of 7-2-1, the best of any team in the North Division, with wins against the Canadiens, Flames, Canucks and Jets in the mix.
They most recently played at home against the struggling Jets, securing the 2 points despite taking a measly 18 shots and committing nearly twice as many penalties as the Winnipeg side.
Connor Brown scored the Senators’ first goal, and with less than 2 minutes to play he also set up Nikita Zaitsev’s game winning goal.
The Habs and Senators last met in Montreal on Saturday, with the Canadiens winning in overtime, this time around they play in Ottawa where the Senators have won their last 3 in a row.
NHL Pick – Ottawa Senators (+138)
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Anaheim Ducks @ St Louis Blues – 8.00 PM (EDT)
The Ducks and the Blues are set to play their final head to head of the season today, with their last game on Monday ending 3-1 the way of the Blues.
It was a fairly comfortable win for the St Louis side, outshooting the Ducks by 32 to 20, and capitalizing on one of the 2 man advantage situations they had to take the lead in the second term.
The Ducks pulled one back a minute later, but it didn’t last as the Blues added another early in the final term, and when the Ducks pushed for the equaliser Ryan O’Reilly was there to bury an empty netter to give them their 5th win over the Anaheim side this season.
While he didn’t have too much to do in net, Jordan Binnington made 19 saves from 20 Ducks’ attempts to keep the Blues ahead, but still seeks his first shutout of the season. The Blues are still yet to achieve a clean sheet this season, keeping their opponents to just 1 goal on 9 occasions, but never keeping them goalless.
After a shaky March which saw them slip down as far as 6th on the table, the Blues are now back in 4th and look a sure thing to make the playoffs.
NHL Pick – St Louis Blues (-255)
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Colorado Avalanche @ San Jose Sharks – 9.30 PM (EDT)
The Avalanche and the Sharks wrap up their extended 4 game set today, and as things stand it is looking like a clean sweep for the Avs with 3 straight wins so far.
After winning the first 2 games in Colorado the series headed to San Jose on Monday, and surprisingly the Sharks looked like good value to claim the points.
They took the lead early through Evander Kane, and replied with another whenever the Avs pulled one back, finding themselves leading 4-2 early in the final period.
However, the Avs offensive pressure became too much for the Sharks as they conceded 2 goals unanswered to send the match to overtime. With the momentum well and truly in the Avs favour, it took just 40 seconds of overtime for Andre Burakovsky to complete the comeback with his 3rd game winning goal of the season.
The slow bounce had us all on the edge of our seats, but THANK YOU BURKY.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/I52QaKhPUI
— x – Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 4, 2021
Burakovsky finished the game with 2 points, as did Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, regulars amongst the points for the Avs this season.
With the win the Avs see themselves draw 2 points closer to the Golden Knights following their defeat to Wild, the two sides have battled back and forth for the division’s top spot, however, the Avs have far better fixtures ahead so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them reclaim the title.
NHL Pick – Colorado Avalanche (-290)
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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.
