NHL Best Bets for Thursday (4/3)

Thursday’s NHL best bets will cover the day’s nine-game slate with a scheduled first puck drop at 7 p.m. ET.

With our FTN betting package, you’ll get picks from everyone at FTN, plus tools, projections and access to Discord, where I’ll discuss every slate.

Today’s Best NHL Bets

St. Louis Blues -1.5

(+118, BetMGM, 2 units to win 2.36 units)

The Blues have been a mainstay in my plays for the last month or so, and it’s for good reason. They won 10 games in a row to take their record from 31-28-7 to 41-28-7, which took them from well outside the playoff picture to being in firm position to secure a Wild Card spot. Believe it or not, their last loss was back March 13 against this same Penguins team they’re facing Thursday. I remember that game fondly because we had 3 units devoted to that game, and we were let down by an atrocious goaltending performance by Jordan Binnington, who gave up 4 goals against less than 4 expected goals against—which did not mesh well with Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry playing one of his best games of the season. We’ll go right back at them with another big 2 unit bet on the puck line.

Colorado/Columbus Over 6.5

(-104, FanDuel Sportsbook)

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s best bets, Columbus has a really rough goaltending situation right now, and it has really hindered their playoff hopes. Columbus goaltenders have allowed three goals or more in four of their last five games and eight in their last 10 games. Elvis Merzlikins started off his 2024-25 campaign very strong, but has been a negative GSAA goaltender since the New Year (-4.41 GSAA since 1/1/2025). Luckily for Blue Jackets, their offense is as good as it has been all season, and in many ways, it’s like they’re challenging themselves to outscore the other team. The Avalanche are a great team, but they are certainly not invincible. MacKenzie Blackwood is likely going to be in net, and while he’s a huge upgrade compared to Alexander Georgiev, he’s still not performing at a level that you’d expect from a guy who just got $26.25M contract extension. I think this one should be high scoring, and we’ll go ahead and take the over 6.5 to win 1 unit.

Bonus Bets

Montreal Canadiens -1.5 (+130, DraftKings/BetMGM/Caesars)
Los Angeles Kings ML (-127, BetRivers)

Prop bets will be posted on Discord.

Goal Scorers

Cole Caufield
Shane Pinto
Brayden Point
Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours
Zach Bolduc
Jason Robertson
Quinton Byfield
Nazem Kadri
Leon Draisaitl