It’s a short week for the National Hockey League, as we are headed into the All-Star break after Wednesday night’s games. Don’t look now, though, but the Florida Panthers are steaming into the break, winners of five in a row as they head to Chicago Tuesday night, with coach Joel Quenneville returning to the city where he helped the Blackhawks hoist three Stanley Cups in a decade. They have closed to within nine points of Boston in the Atlantic Division, with two games in hand. Tampa Bay is closing on the B’s too, winning eight of ten.
Things are getting tighter in the Metropolitan Division as well, with Pittsburgh now just four points behind the Washington Capitals. The Pacific Division has gotten even tighter over the last week, with Vancouver leading with 58 points — and then four teams sitting with 57 points right behind them. In the Central Division, the Colorado Avalanche are ahead of the St. Louis Blues in goal differential by 12 — but trail them by six points in the standings. Don’t miss our NHL betting picks for action from the ice this week.
Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week – January 20th Edition
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Tuesday, January 21st
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia (7:30 pm ET, NBC Sports)
The Pittsburgh Penguins keep losing players to injury — and they keep winning. They have won six of their last seven. Their last loss came on January 16, when they fell in Boston, 4-1, but they have followed that up with a win in Detroit (OK, that’s not a huge accomplishment this season) and then a home win over those same Bruins, prevailing 4-3 on Sunday.
In that win over Boston, the Penguins trailed 3-0 and came all the way back to win — their third victory this season in which they came back from a three-goal deficit. Jack Johnson, Bryan Rust, Dominik Simon and Teddy Blueger lit the lamp for Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby has played four games since coming back from core muscle surgery — and has scored points in each of those games, including a pair of assists in Sunday’s win. Matt Murray looked vulnerable in goal but then gathered himself to stop 34 shots and has now won five straight games. With Crosby back, and given how well Pittsburgh has played with so many key contributors out, it’s hard to see them falling to a Flyers team that is way down the Metropolitan standings.
Despite their sixth-place status in the division, Philadelphia has won three of four, beating Boston, St. Louis and Los Angeles while falling to Montreal. They beat the Kings on Saturday, 4-1, with a pair of goals from Travis Konecny, and goals from James van Riemsdyk and Joel Farabee. The Flyers got 34 saves from Brian Elliott and are 16-4-4 at home. But can they deal with a powerful Pittsburgh offense?
NHL Betting Prediction: Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 4
Florida at Chicago (8:30 pm ET, ESPN+)
The Florida Panthers made it five in a row in exciting fashion on Monday night, beating Minnesota 5-4 with a goal from Noel Acciari on a double deflection with 4.8 seconds left in regulation. This was the first time that the Panthers had won a game in regulation in Minnesota. Aleksander Barkov notched a goal and an assist, and the Panthers also got goals from Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent Trocheck. The Panthers’ defense was not ironclad, but they got 29 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky, making his second start in a row after coming back from an upper-body injury. It helped that the Panthers scored the first goal; they are 22-2-2 when they get the first score of the game.
Will the Panthers have tired legs in Chicago? They head to face a Blackhawks team that has also won five in a row — and hasn’t played since Sunday. They have beaten Anaheim, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg over that stretch, rolling over the Jets, 5-2, on Sunday. In that game, Patrick Kane became the 90th player to tally 1,000 points, on an assist for a third-period goal. That assist came on a goal by Brandon Saad; Alex Nylander, Erik Gustafsson, David Kampf and Dominik Kubalik also scored; for Kubalik, that made 10 goals in his last seven games. The Blackhawks’ offense is ramping up at just the right time. In a game between teams that are rolling on offense, the team with the fresher legs will usually win, particularly at home.
NHL Betting Prediction: Chicago 4, Florida 3
