NHL Best Bets for Thursday (1/2)

Thursday’s best bets will cover the night’s 12-game NHL slate that has a first puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. PT.

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

Dallas Stars -1.5

(+140, BetMGM)

The Stars are slowly developing a great deal of chemistry between the members of this current rendition of their top six given the injuries to both Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment. On the other hand, it appears the Senators are having a tougher time picking up the slack for one injury in particular, and that’s the one that was dealt to Linus Ullmark, who was a huge reason for their great start to their 2024-25 campaign. There’s definitely value in the Stars puck line given the uncertainty of Ottawa’s goaltending situation.

Boston/NY Rangers Over 5.5

(-122, DraftKings Sportsbook/BetRivers)

Both of these teams have been underperforming season, and a big reason for that is the lack of consistency between the pipes. Both Jeremy Swaymon and Joonas Korpisalo have been brutal and especially over the last few weeks of play. To be frank, Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick haven’t really fared much better. All four of these goalies, who have all been considered among the best that the NHL has to offer went the month of December with a negative GSAA. The putrid goaltending mixed with both teams being vulnerable to making mistakes in their own zone really supports the total going over, so we’re going to roll with it.

Calgary Flames ML

(-110, FanDuel Sportsbook/BetMGM, 2.2u to win 2u)

I’m not really understanding the line here considering the Flames have generally dominated this matchup dating back to when Utah called Arizona home. In fact, the Flames have won 10 of the last 11 meetings against the former Coyotes. Utah is ailing from major injuries to their blue line. It hasn’t really hurt them too much early in the season, but the lack of depth has really made things difficult on their goaltenders. Over the last couple weeks of play, they are giving up the fourth-most high-danger scoring chances at 5v5 play. On top of that, their best player, Clayton Keller, had to sit against the Oilers Tuesday because of an illness. Even if he ends up dressing for Thursday’s game, I would imagine he won’t be at 100% if it was bad enough to sit out against Edmonton Tuesday. I like Calgary a ton and will put up 2.2 units on them to win 2 units.

Bonus Bets

Colorado Avalanche -1.5 (+115, Bet365/Caesars)
Detroit Red Wings ML (-102, DraftKings)
Vancouver/Seattle Over 5.5 (-107, BetRivers)

Prop bets will be posted on Discord.

Goal Scorers

Tom Wilson
Alex Ovechkin
Andrei Svechnikov
Charlie Coyle
Kirill Marchenko
Dylan Larkin
Alex DeBrincat
Anders Lee
Wyatt Johnston
Evgenii Dadonov
Blake Coleman
Nathan MacKinnon
J.T. Miller
Owen Tippett
Nikita Kucherov