Free NHL Picks For Today 3/31/2022
New Jersey at Boston NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Devils: Tanned, rested and ready in its first game since Sunday, New Jersey has allowed 10 goals in a pair of losses to Boston. This follows NJD winning last season’ 8 games by a 5-3 margin under COVIF protocols.
A newspaper in the Garden State said the problems are simple: “The New Jersey Devils are coming off another week in which they showed us that goaltending is the reason they weren’t competitive this season.”
Meanwhile, rising star Jack Hughes continues his torrid scoring pace. In four games last week, he scored six times. Included were two goals against the Rangers, one being his 100th career tally — he’s only 20! This puts Highes on a rate to surpass Alex Oveckhkin in career goals — no one is ready to place him in the class of a Gretzky or Howe.
Bruins: Boston had won 6-of-8 until falling to Toronto, but the Bruins looked like the more complete club for 40 minutes against the Leafs.
In other words, we are still on the BB freight train.
The look-ahead is minor — a home-and road series with Columbus — but that means a 100-percent look-ahead for us bettors.
Boston is an incredible 16-1 on Saturdays this season! Why? Who cares? Bet this one on Friday nights before you go to bed.
Prediction: Yes, the Bruins will win. No, even on the Puck Line, the payback is too small. Unless you find an off-short book to (foolishly) bets the Bees at -2.4, we’ll keep it simple and play the OVER.
Dallas at Anaheim NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Stars: Dallas is about to leap past St. Louis and Nashville to move into into third place and a definite playoff berth Among the trio, the Stars are playing the steal, reliable brand of hockey — always a type of ballclub I prefer to wager on.
Yes, Dallas holds a playoff berth currently by one point over Vegas, but this is not the goal of the Stars. They match-up well with second-place Minnesota, and would rather avoid playing Colorado or Calgary until at least the second round.
Plus, Dallas plays a controlled style because its home rink has such terrible ice. The club ranks among the leaders in plenty of categories, but by making sure the hold puck possession before attacking slowly and deliberately, the numbers are skewed, something those analytics folks rarely take into consideration.
It’s like a college football team runs the ball. their defense has great stats because the opponent runs so many fewer plays.
The Stars are 4-1 SU/ATS in L5. but notice, this defensive club is 8–5 toward the Over in L13, with many landing on five goals.
Ducks: With more than of the Ducks’ affiliate from San Diego (AHL) on the bug club’s roster, they are definitely taking on the personality of head coach Dallas Eakins, who was with the Gulls for two season before he was promoted.
Eakins, the former head coach in Edmonton, has his team play a similar style that Carolina plays under another gritty player, Ron Brind’amour.
So it came as no surprise that Anaheim led Dallas for the first 50 minutes in Tuesday’s opening game of a tw0-game set at Honda Center. But the youth and inexperience caught up with them,
Still so far this season in the second game of a series held in the same building, the underdog owns more than its share of wins (and covered). Can Ducks goalie John Gibson become a hero — a great goalie receiving no help from the blue-liners.
Prediction: If the Ducks can’t snap their 10-game losing streak, covering 1.5 goals is the way to go… DUCKS +1.5 goals on the “Duck” Line.
Winnipeg at Toronto NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Jets: Winnipeg survived an obvious look-ahead situation by taking down Buffalo — barely. However, Dallas also won, so the Jets remain three points behind for the second wild card berth in the Western Conference.
This being a inter-conference pairing, it’s just amazing how often these games go into overtime, because the losing team’s point in the standings doesn’t hurt the winner. This keeps the 60-minute regulation tie as a live wager.
However, the Jets seem to be all-in on goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who got the start in Buffalo rather than Eric Comrie in an obvious play the back-up situation. Three games in four days will be tough on Hellebuyck.
RW Blake Wheeler had a goal, running his scoring streak to 11 points in 12 games — he missed in a loss to Boston.
Maple Leafs: .This will be Toronto’s final home game before going on the road for four, including Tampa Bay, Florida and Dallas — Ouch!
The Leafs are just 7-5-1 SU (7-6 ATS) in L13,so they need a wake-up call. Sure, they beat the big boys, but are also recent uglies with Buffalo and Montreal.
Injured starting goalie ack Campbell was supposed to have been back earlier this week, so you might need to wait for the mid-day report if it’s the former L.A. Kings goalie or rising newcomer Erik Kallgren — the coaches will avoid Petr Mrazek at all costs.
Prediction: Winnipeg hasn’t been great on the back end except for the goalie; same goes with Toronto. The Jets are in slightly better form, so with plus-money, that could be a nice play. We will stick to the basics and go with the OVER.
Pittsburgh at Minnesota NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Penguins: Nobody is truly concerned that Pittsburgh has dropped 3-of-4 after having won 5-of-6 before this small bump in the ice.
The power play is working, the “PK” (penalty kill) remains in the Top 10, and goalie Tristan Jarry is an outside choice in the Vezina Trophy race at maybe the fourth or fifth choice.
The only thing interesting in the Penguins statistics is the goal-scoring leader — and it’s not Sidney Crosgy. The leader is second-line center Jake Guentzel with 31 )the Kid has 25).
Guentzel, who hails from Omaha, Neb. (a possible NHL expansion site in 2026-27), hasn’t scored in since the first two weeks of the season.
As for expansion cities, there are three leading (and obvious) leaders: Quebec City, Milwaukee, and a second team in Toronto (or Hamilton). All have quality rinks and a welcoming hockey audience.
Wild: Minnesota is hot-hot-hot, winners of seven straight, mostly at home, including three straight in overtime. They also nipped Pittsburgh, 5-4 in a shootout, but that was months ago.
Despite the Wild’s obvious success beyond 60 minutes at 12-4, that’s also a reason they won’t (yet again) find many wins in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The great debate: who will be the starting goalie? Cam Talbot is hot, Marc-Andre Fleury is unbeaten wearing forest green (although Fleury, who’s always considered a team player and a leader in “the room,” insists he will root for Talbot when he’s the backup).
Prediction: Of course, a close game which goes into overtime (and, it’s interconference, too). so I’ll play the 60-minute tie at +300 and enjoy this game. The value side is barely the Penguins in a near pick’em contest.
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Free NHL Picks For Today 3/31/2022
L.A. Kings at Calgary NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Kings: Another winner on the Total as L.A. recovered from 3-1 down to score a pair of unassisted goals over a span of 12 seconds to force overtime.
The Kings are playing well, Edmonton is playing well enough, but are having problems on the back end, especially in a recent 9-5 bitch-slapping from Calgary.
Team captain Anze Kopitar is closing on 700 career assists after reaching 1,000 points in the final game of last season. Those are numbers no one in L.A. talks about and he seeks to overtake Hall of Fame forward Marcel Dionne.
L.A. is 7-4-3 SU (7-7 ATS) in L14, but many injured players are quickly returning, so the sum for a second-place finish in the Pacific Division is realistic.
Flames: Now listed four skaters with 30 or more goals, the Pacific Division leaders are primed for the playoffs up front, but the back end along the blue line is still very questionable.
While Minnesota made a bold move and possess two toop-flight goalies, who is the best for the Flames? Jacob Markstrom might be a great goalie in the future, but not now. And Mike Smith is probably too old.
Prediction: After losing to Colorado yet still holding a comfortable lead, the motivated team are the… KINGS.
Columbus at NY Islanders NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Blue Jackets: Boone Jenner was placed on IR, which doesn’t mean anything — the first-line center wasn’t scoring much anyway (3 points in 8 games).
CBJ has one win in six (against mid-slumping St. Louis), and there’s been little excitement in Ohio since head coach John Tortorella was replaced by Brad Larsen during the offseason.
When your current best center, Sean Kuralym has only 24 points through 67 contests, you’re in trouble!
Isles: At least NYI coach Barry Trotz has his side working hard in what should’ve been a Cup contending season.
This second game of a back-to-back saw the Isles win the series opener, 5-4, but NUI controlled most of the play. Sure, goalie Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves, but high-scoring chances were few, as Columbus fired a ton of long-range, low-chance shots.
Left wing Anders Lee now has six assists in L4, meaning both lines are coming together.
Prediction: In the battle for fifth place in the Metropolitan Division — like anyone cares –this should be a gritty, physical game. So if the Total is bumped up to six, we will go contrarian and make a half-unit wager on the… UNDER.
Chicago at Florida NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Blackhawks: Things at night are rough in Anaheim, but the Blackhawks are only a few meters behind after blowing leads of 4-0 and 4-0 over the past week.
As a reward, the Hawks get to play the Panthers in a name-your-own-score affair which will not go well for Chicago: 2-4-2 SU in L8 (2-6 ATS).
The single consistent: Hawks are 50-1 toward the Over in L6 — that tends to happen when you blow huger leads.
Panthers: .Left wing Jonathan Huberdea is closing on 100 points. The franchise record is a mere 96 points by Aleksander Barkov in 2018-19, so the record should be a slam dunk. Two weeks ago, he set the franchise mark for assists (70), breaking his own standard of 62.
Since few people know about Huberdea, a wager on his scoring (+400) or scoring the first goal (better than 10-1) might be warranted.
Since “South Beach” is not a major hockey landmark, few people know these statistics; they only know the Northeast clubs, thus, throwing away their money.
Prediction: Florida by how many? Three? Four ? More.
And the Panthers have solid goal-tending, so there is no absolute on an Over… PASS. You could also take Florida on the Puck Line in a parlay with another selection.
Montreal at Carolina NHL Pick Prediction 3/31/2022
Canadiens Ever since Montreal’s 10-game losing streak ended in mid-February, look at what the Habs have done!
Montreal is 10-5-4 SU (10-9 ATS), almost all at plus-money, owning victories over Toronto(twice!), Calgary and Edmonton.
On the flip side, this is the Habs’ second game in three nights in the Southeast, with Tampa Bay slated for Friday.
Hurricanes: At 3-0-2 SU (5-0 ATS), the price will be sky high on Carolina, especially playing in Raleigh. There is a slight look-ahead with Minnietsa, but then it’s Buffalo, so the distraction should be minor.
This is a skid spot to rest goalie Frederik Andersen and allow some play time for Antti Raanta, who once won more than 21 games in Arizona one season — remarkable!
Center Sebastian Aho just reached 40 goals for the season and needs six more to equal his career best
Prediction If Montreal catches Carolina napping, I don’t mind a half-unit wager on the HABS at +300 or higher.
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