Ryan Hodges
After nearly 2 weeks off while the 4 Nations was underway, the NHL returns to its regular season on Saturday. The league is not exactly slow rolling the continuation of the season. There are 14 games on tap beginning at 12:30 pm ET and going all through the afternoon and evening. It has been a great month for hockey fans with a fantastic 4 Nations Face-Off, and it only continues with a loaded Saturday slate.
There are several heavyweight bouts as part of very intriguing division matchups and inter-conference matchups. This will be a fantastic day of hockey from start to finish. If your team isn’t suited up or you want to have a little added interest, below is a SGP we have our eyes on — along with our reasoning for the appeal.
Let’s dive in, and don’t forget you can also get our expert NHL picks for all the big games resuming on Saturday.
Avalanche -1.5 (+190)
Panthers -1.5 (+110)
Jets ML (-130)
NHL Saturday mega parlay odds: +977
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Avalanche -1.5 (+190)
Even for a puck line, the +190 here looks like decent value. This is a fairly lopsided matchup in favor of the Avalanche. Colorado enters this game having won 4 of its last 5 games and 5 of their last 7. It is a different story for the Predators, as they have 1 win in their last 7. Over this 7-game stretch Nashville has a -14 goal differential and only 2 of the losses are to teams currently in a playoff spot.
Head-to-head, the Avs have dominated the Preds over the last few seasons to the tune of 11 wins in the last 14 contests. As abysmal as the Preds are this season, there has not been a reason to expect those trends to change. Of 32 teams, Nashville ranks 29th in the NHL in goals scored and 26th in goals allowed. Colorado is the better team and will be making a push to crack the Central’s top 3. The Avs will come out with some jam to collect these 2 points.
Read our full analysis for Saturday’s huge NHL slate
Panthers -1.5 (+110)
This is another one where the opponents have trended in opposite directions. The Kraken have dropped 5 of their last 7 games while the Panthers have won 5 of 6 games as well as 5 consecutive wins at home. The Panthers are already the better team and recent form only reinforces their advantage in this one.
The Panthers are 17-9-2 at home and the Kraken are 11-15 on the road. Against the spread, Florida is 7-3 in its last 10 — including 4-0 at home. The Panthers are a good team playing great hockey lately, and they are largely fresh from the 4 Nations break. Even if their players who played for the U.S. and Canada are a bit exhausted, understandably so, the Panthers are deep enough and talented enough to hold to their pre-break form. The same is especially true against a struggling opponent.
Jets ML (-130)
The Jets entered the break scorching hot, as they have won 8 straight games by an average score of 4.38-2.13. Over that stretch, all wins were against teams that were either in a playoff spot or just on the periphery. This team is bullying opponents at home, on the road, in either conference and in both high-scoring shootouts and low-scoring affairs. This -135 is a nice addition to give better value to this parlay.
On one hand, maybe the break was ill-timed for the Jets as it could kill the momentum they had rolling. However, they get a favorable matchup in their first game back to keep the winning streak alive. The Blues have lost 6 of their last 8 and 5 of their last 6 played at home. Head-to-head, Winnipeg has won 10 of the last 12 overall and 6 of the last 7 played in St. Louis. The Jets shouldn’t have too much trouble taking care of business in this game.
