Lightning Strike Back? Betting on the NHL Playoffs with Picks for Tonight’s Games

As the middle of April comes and goes, we’re starting to learn a bit about how well the Major League Baseball contenders are going to fulfill their promise over the long regular season. The NFL draft chatter is starting to heat up. In the National Hockey League, teams are gearing up for the four-series grind that will end with one team hoisting the Stanley Cup, the oldest and most prestigious trophy in all of professional sport. The regular season is all but done, with some teams facing one more contest, but the playoff series matchups are not all yet set in stone. Let’s look at the playoff picture going into April 18 action as well as some insights about the contenders that may influence your NHL betting decisions.

Battle for the Conference Crown: Potential Series We Can’t Wait For | 2024 NHL Playoffs

Western Conference

(C1) Dallas Stars vs (WC2) L.A. Kings
(C2) Winnipeg Jets vs (C3) Colorado Avalanche*
(P1) Vancouver Canucks vs (WC1) Nashville Predators*
(P2) Edmonton Oilers vs (P3) Vegas Golden Knights

• C – Central Division
• P – Pacific Division
• WC – Wild Card
• *– playoff series locked in

The Pacific Division has Los Angeles with 97 points after 81 games and Vegas with 98 points after 81 games. Which ever team finished with more points after Game 82 will take the third-place slot in the division and open the postseason in Edmonton. The team with fewer points will take the second wild-card slot in the West and open the postseason in Dallas.

Eastern Conference

(M1) N.Y. Rangers vs (WC2) Washington Capitals*
(M2) Carolina Hurricanes vs (M3) N.Y. Islanders*
(A1) Florida Panthers vs (WC1) Tampa Bay Lightning*
(A2) Boston Bruins vs (A3) Toronto Maple Leafs*

• A – Atlantic Division
• M – Metropolitan Division
• WC – Wild Card
• *-playoff series locked in

All of the East contenders have finished their 82-game regular season, so these matchups are locked in.

Dallas Stars

The Stars came into the regular season with a Stanley Cup-caliber roster, but they weren’t willing to stand pat. As the season went on, they added Chris Tanev on the blue line and called up Logan Stankoven, a speedy rookie who is dangerous in the attack zone. The depth of this team is its most impressive trait at this point, and their No. 1 goalie, Jake Oettinger, has been locked in. As a team, the Stars are peaking at just the right time.

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes started off the season with awful goaltending, but Sergei Bobrovsky righted the shift around the time the calendar switched to 2024. The team added Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline, and the jump-start he has brought to the offense helped them climb the standings in the second half of the season. Is he enough to bring another Stanley Cup to Appalachia – and drive another dagger into the hearts of Hartford Whaler fans?

N.Y. Rangers

The Rangers may finally be able to parlay a Vezina Trophy-level goalie into a Stanley Cup. It’s been 30 years since New York City hosted a Stanley Cup parade, as the Blueshirts made it through all of Henrik Lundqvist’s distinguished career between the pipes without a title. Now the team has Igor Shesterkin in net, and he might be even better than Lundqvist. Their five-on-five scoring numbers are the only concern going into the playoffs, but the breakout performance of Artemi Panarin (49 goals, 120 points) has the Rangers flying high as Metro Division champs.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets are finally playing up to their potential in front of dominant goalie Connor Hellebuyck. They almost snuck up on Dallas to win the Central Division thanks to the deal for Pierre-Luc Dubois. If you look back at the chaos and disappointment that hit the Jets at the end of the 2022-23 campaign, this season has been a pleasant surprise. They get home-ice advantage against Colorado in the first round, but keeping the Avalanche offense in check over a seven-game series will be a challenge.

The 2023-24 regular season in the NHL runs between 10 and 13 more games, depending on a team’s schedule. Four of the eight Eastern Conference slots in the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been claimed – by Boston, Florida, the Rangers, and Carolina. In the Western Conference, the only team that has clinched a spot is the Dallas Stars, leaving seven slots open. As we play the last few weeks of the regular season, the postseason picture will clear up. Right now, though, just one Eastern Conference team (Columbus) and four Western Conference teams (Arizona, Chicago, Anaheim, and San Jose) are definitely out. Which other teams will miss out? As you start to plan your sports betting for the NHL Playoffs, read on to get our perspective.

NHL Playoffs Analysis: Which Teams Will Miss the 2024 Stanley Cup Postseason?

New Jersey Devils

It’s only been a year since the Devils stormed into the Stanley Cup Playoffs and eliminated the heavily favored New York Rangers in the first round. At that time, it looked like the Devils were just getting started with a revitalization of a once-proud postseason tradition. However, the Devils would be out of the playoffs if the regular season ended today. Head coach Lindy Ruff was shown the door. Injuries have bedeviled some of New Jersey’s key players, and none of the team’s top goaltenders have played particularly well. Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid, and Nico Daws have all had chances in net, and each of them has a GAA over 3.00. The fact that the Devils have been able to hang around in contention this long is actually impressive given the number of goals the team has given up. Right now, the Devils are looking up at the Washington Capitals and the Detroit Red Wings in the playoff chase. If the Devils can start making up some ground, then we might get optimistic, but for now, the Devils look to be out.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues have won six of their last ten and haven’t had any extended losing streaks this season. Both of those trends have kept their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes alive. They are just four points behind another resurgent team, the Vegas Golden Knights. If the Blues end up missing out, it would be the second year in a row. The last time the Blues missed two straight postseasons came 16 years ago. The fact that the West is just so stacked this year in comparison to the East and the Blues’ inability to score on the power play are the top two reasons why the Blues are likely to finish on the outside.

Seattle Kraken

In their second season, the Kraken went to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs before losing to the Dallas Stars. This season, they are 14 points behind Los Angeles for the second wild-card position and 15 points behind Vegas for third place in the Pacific Division. They have a 2-6-2 record over their last ten games that has given credence to rumors that the team is tanking to get a high draft choice before next season. They did just snap an eight-game skid on Tuesday when they beat Anaheim, getting their first home win in almost four weeks. That streak included a home loss to Montreal in which the Kraken were down 4-0 after the first period and never really seemed to wake up in the eventual 5-1 loss. They also lost at home to Buffalo, 6-2, and the Sabres are almost as far out of the playoff race as the Kraken are. In that win over the Ducks, Anaheim only put a dozen shots on net, looking even less interested than the Kraken did. It’s a shame to see a team that looked so electric last year playing without passion this time of year.

Detroit Red Wings

The Wings went on a five-game losing streak, briefly snapped out of it, and then started a new three-game skid on which they find themselves now. They are two points out of the second wild-card position in the East, although the team they trail (Washington) has a game in hand on them. Their overall play (and primary metrics) haven’t changed much, but the results have. Teams were already outshooting them by wide margins, but the Red Wings had a high enough shooting percentage to compensate for the gap. Captain Dylan Larkin went down for extended time due to injury, but those metrics were a problem before he went on the shelf. If the defense doesn’t improve, the Red Wings are not going to climb back into the wild-card picture.

Buffalo Sabres

At the trade deadline, the Sabres made some interesting moves, including the trade of Casey Mittelstadt for Bowen Byram. They added a high-ceiling defenseman, even though it’s another left shot to go along with Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin. Also, Mittelstadt was having a tremendous season before the Sabres shipped him out. They did pick up some early wins after their trades but have split their last ten games and are eight points behind the Caps for the second wild card in the East.

New York Islanders

The Isles looked buried through much of the first half of the 2023-24 season, but then they went on a six-game winning streak shortly after the trade deadline and briefly occupied one of the wild-card slots in the East. When Lou Lamoriello fired coach Lane Lambert and replaced him with the mercurial Patrick Roy, the team had a bit of a burst. With 77 points, the Isles are just four points out of the last wild card and five points behind Philadelphia for third in the Metropolitan Division. With only 31 regular-season wins (the Caps and Flyers have 36 each), the Islanders would have to finish with more points than either of those two teams to take their playoff spot away, as they would lose the first tiebreaker if they finish with the same number of points. The Isles have scored 215 goals so far on the season with a -26 differential; the only team above them in the East with worse numbers there is Washington (199 goals, -30 differential). The Islanders are normally known for stingy defense, but those 241 goals allowed are a major red flag for a team looking to gain ground.

Minnesota Wild

By sending Brandon Duhaime, Connor Dewar and Patrick Maroon elsewhere at the trade deadline, the Wild seemed to indicate that they were in “sell” mode. However, they got points in four straight games after the deadline. With a 6-1-3 record over their last ten games, they are slowly creeping up the standings. At 79 points, they are eight points out of the second wild-card slot in the West, and they have three fewer regular-season wins than the team ahead of them (Los Angeles). Their goals allowed number (231) is a bit high for a contending team, but they have lit the lamp 223 times. It seems a bit late for a team with these defensive issues to make up ground at this point.

N.Y. Rangers rookie sensation Matt Rempe has only played 10 games in the NHL, but he’s already earned a four-game suspension after he elbowed New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in the head in their game on Monday night. He received a five-minute major game misconduct with 30 seconds left in the second period. The Rangers argued that Siegenthaler had stopped short and that Rempe appeared to be bracing himself to hit the boards. Rempe has drawn attention at all levels of hockey because he stands 6’7” and has had difficulty avoiding hits at head level on opponents. He does play a physical game and got into a fight in his first NHL shift in the Blueshirts’ Stadium Series victory over the Islanders. It will be interesting to see where he fits on a Rangers team that has visions of a deep playoff run and perhaps the team’s first Stanley Cup since 1994. We have the current NHL Playoffs matchups as well as some thoughts on contending teams that may influence your NHL betting.

2024 NHL Playoffs Betting Predictions: Current Playoff Matchups

NHL Eastern Conference

• A1 Florida Panthers vs WC2 Tampa Bay Lightning
• A2 Boston Bruins vs A3 Toronto Maple Leafs
• M1 N.Y. Rangers vs WC1 Detroit Red Wings
• M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs M3 Philadelphia Flyers

A = Atlantic Division
M = Metropolitan Division
WC = Wild Card

NHL Western Conference

• C1 Dallas Stars vs WC2 Vegas Golden Knights
• C2 Winnipeg Jets vs C3 Colorado Avalanche
• P1 Vancouver Canucks vs WC1 Nashville Predators
• P2 Edmonton Oilers vs P3 L.A. Kings

C = Central Division
P = Pacific Division

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers are breathing down Vancouver’s neck in the Pacific Division race; whether the Oil finish in first or second, they will have home ice in at least the first round. They have played eight games in a row without permitting more than two goals in regulation and overtime. Connor McDavid is eight points behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in points scored but has been gaining on him; since the All-Star break, he has 36 points, more than anyone else in the NHL, and his 32 assists by themselves are also more points than anyone else has scored since then.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks bring a four-game winning streak into their Wednesday night showdown with the Colorado Avalanche, as they seem to be snapping back to life after a brief lull coming out of the break. Defenseman Quinn Hughes put up five points in the last week alone as the Canucks beat Los Angeles, Vegas and Winnipeg. The Canucks rank third in the NHL in goals per game and are the only team in the top five in rebound, cycle and rush goals, showing an extremely versatile scoring attack.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets are four points back of the Dallas Stars in the Central Division, but after the Stars let the Florida Panthers off the mat on Tuesday, turning a 3-1 lead after two periods into a ridiculous 4-3 loss, Sportslogiq has the Jets with a 38 percent chance to win the division, the best of any of the clubs.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs have a 70 percent chance of meeting the Boston Bruins in the playoffs, the highest chances of any of the listed playoff pairings at this point. Boston seems to have Toronto’s number right now; the two teams met twice in the last week, and the B’s delivered 4-1 beatings in both of them. The Maple Leafs have some rest coming up, with just two games in the next seven days.

Calgary Flames

The Flames continue their fade, with a 1-4-0 performance in their last five. They lost to Florida by four, Carolina by five, and Colorado by four in that stretch. Their sell-off of pending free agents has taken a toll.

Here are some predictions for the bracket as it sits today:

NHL Playoffs: Eastern Conference

Panthers, Bruins, Rangers, Flyers advance to the second round
Panthers and Bruins advance to the conference finals
Bruins advance to the Stanley Cup Final

NHL Playoffs: Western Conference

Golden Knights, Avalanche, Canucks and Oilers advance to the second round
Canucks and Avalanche advance to the conference final
Avalanche advance to the Stanley Cup Final

Bruins win the Cup in six games