NHL Picks

The Vancouver Canucks had a chance to send the Nashville Predators to the handshake line in Game 5 on home ice, but it wasn’t meant to be. Third-string goaltender Arturs Silovs made the start, and he wasn’t the issue. He did his part, allowing just a single power-play goal to Roman Josi and an even-strength goal to Alexandre Carrier. He has been thrust into action with All-Star goaltender Thatcher Demko listed as week-to-week with a knee injury, and backup Casey DeSmith dealing with a lower-body injury, which forced him to miss Games 4 and 5.

The reason for playing Nashville is simple, and two-fold. One, the Predators will be playing in front of their raucous crowd at Bridgestone Arena, with blaring country music, eardrum-shattering fan noise and flying catfish. It’s a scene, man. And two, Juuse Saros is back, and playing great in between the pipes, after struggling down the stretch in the regular season. He has been a steadying force for the Predators, and the goaltending advantage is clearing in Nashville’s favor. Look for the Preds to force a decisive Game 7 in the Pacific Northwest.

Predators ML (-130) at time of publishing. Playable to -140.

Download the Pickswise app to get our picks and best bets for every game, every day.

We head into Game 6, and the margin for error is getting slimmer and slimmer, and the intensity will be ratcheted up to an all-time high for this series. It’s the second straight elimination game, with Vancouver on its second out of three chances to send Nashville packing. Both of these teams are nearly a mirror image of each other, and it would be especially so if All-Star Thatcher Demko was patrolling the crease, opposite Juuse Saros. These teams have solid defense, good goaltending and a very, very careful offense, which doesn’t take a ton of shots on goal.

In fact, in Game 5 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, the Canucks accounted for 20 shots on goal, while the Predators tested Arturs Silovs, the third-string goaltender for the Canucks, with just 22 shots. Saros has faced a total of just 91 shots in this series, kicking aside 80 of those shots. That’s an average of just 16.0 saves per game in the series, posting a 2-3-0 record, 2.21 GAA and .879 SV%. Silovs stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced in Game 5, with one of the goals coming via the power play. The Preds have taken a total of just 119 shots in this series, or 23.8 SOG per game. The scoring chances will be few and far between, and goals will once again be at a premium.

Under 5.5 (-115) at time of publishing. Playable to -130.

The first 4 games of this Western Conference best-of-seven series went to the road team. The Dallas Stars decided enough is enough, and finally defended home ice successfully in Game 5 to push the defending Stanley Cup champions to the brink of elimination heading into Game 6 at The Fortress. Can Vegas continue the winning ways of the home team? Dallas won Game 3 by the slimmest of margins, as emerging star Wyatt Johnston provided the heroics in overtime to slice the VGK series lead to 2-1. The Stars doubled up the Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 4, too.

Vegas had it going on in the first two games, outscoring Dallas 7-4 in two games in the Metroplex. However, the offense has gone cold against Jake Oettinger, averaging just 2.0 goals per game in the past three outings, all losses. Will the defending champs go from the pinnacle, to a first-round exit? It’s possible. But in Game 6, I think the winning ways of the home team continues, and we get a decisive Game 7 in Dallas on Sunday. Back the slight ‘dogs on home ice, as VGK taps into its recent championship experience to get the job done.

Golden Knights ML (-105) at time of publishing. Playable to -110.

Download the Pickswise app to get our picks and best bets for every game, every day.

The Dallas Stars invade T-Mobile Arena looking to oust the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights in the first round, and do it disrespectfully in their own barn, too. Ouch. We’ve had a lot of solid defense and goaltending in this series, especially lately. These teams opened with five combined goals in the first 20 minutes in Game 1, but since then we’ve had nearly 15 full periods, if you count the 16-plus minutes of overtime in Game 3, with 22 goals during that span. That means Logan Thompson and Jake Oettinger have been standing on their heads a lot, with the defensive effort in front of them superb, too.

The Under might be the best play on the entire board between the two available NHL playoff games to bet. The Under is officially 3-1 in the past four games in the series, the empty-net goal by Roope Hintz in Game 4 in Vegas flipped the Under to an Over result by a half-goal. Under bettors, while you took the bad beat there, take solace in the fact you were on the right side, and that counts for something. With VGK’s backs against the wall, and the Stars on the road, we could see a very, very low-scoring game, perhaps a 2-1 type of game, and maybe even an overtime or two, before a winner is decided.

Under 5.5 (+100) at time of publishing. Playable to -110.