Find the edge for NHL games running February 24-30
Colorado Avalanche @ Utah Mammoth
With the first game back after the Olympic break, can the Avalanche resume their pace to set a potential NHL record for wins?
Depends on how you view the rest factor and post-Olympic letdown for two of their biggest stars. Team Canada players Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews and Cale Makar are not only headed back to a road stop straight to Salt Lake City, traveling 5,500 miles from Milan, but they’re coming off a brutal OT loss after two weeks of high-intensity hockey that ended just three days ago.
Add in Brock Nelson (Team USA) and other Olympians who also went deep in the tournament – Lehkonen, Landeskog, Kiviranta, and Necas – and the Avs might be running on fumes. It’ll take a few games for them to find their legs.
Utah’s +110 and Colorado’s -130 moneyline odds still reflect their spots in the NHL standings, but if ever there was a time that the Avs were ripe for an upset, this is it. The O/U is set at 6.5, which could be a solid Under play when you consider that both team’s goalies got to rest up – Utah’s Vejmelka went to Italy but didn’t see any ice time – while many of the key skaters didn’t get much of a rest.
Buffalo Sabres @ New Jersey Devils
For the first few games this week, every NHL betting preview will focus on the returning players coming back from Italy. Few games will get as much attention as the Sabres-Devils battle on Wednesday night.
For the Sabres, it’s the team’s leading scorer Tage Thompson who’ll be the main focus of the betting public. He’s part of the gold medal-winning Team USA, and he’s coming back off a 4,000-mile return trip on 3 days’ rest. He’ll join a Sabres team that limped into the Olympic break, losing 3 out of their last 4 games. Maybe the rest will have paid off for a Buffalo team that has a lot of depth. We know they’re capable of getting hot fast, with that 13-1 streak just two months ago.
The Devils might want to grab some of the Jack Hughes mojo when he comes back from Milan. Hughes scored the game-winner for Team USA in that gold medal game, so the team might get a natural boost right from the jump. They’ll need it, because they’re on the extreme edge of the playoff bubble at the moment.
Jersey is sitting 7th in the Metropolitan with 58 points. This first game back and the next 1-2 weeks will pretty much seal their fate if they can’t find the winning touch they had at the start of the NHL season.
That Hughes’ energy is as powerful as any post-Olympic boost that an NHL team will get. But narratives and hope – and just one player – can’t cover a team that doesn’t have the horses to win against a stacked Buffalo squad. We’re surprised the books and public money seem to be buying that storyline of Olympic magic, making the Devils the favorite at -117.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Tampa Bay Lightning
With the Toronto-Tampa game this Wednesday, the NHL oddsmakers clearly aren’t expecting a post-Olympic letdown for the red-hot Lightning. At -235, they’re favored to continue their pre-break streak that saw them win 5 straight. Tampa is in first place by a comfortable margin in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division. And a scary stat for the rest of the NHL: the Lightning have lost only two games since December 20th.
The only vulnerable spot that might hit Tampa this week is the curse of the talented team, similar to what the Avs are facing: the Lightning sent a league-leading 11 players to the Olympics, so they’ll be among the least fresh teams in the league for the first few games back.
On the bright side, that same break let Brayden Point, one of the team’s leading scorers, heal up from a knee injury that has had him off the ice since January 12th. Point is expected back in the lineup against the Leafs.
Toronto fans are hoping that Auston Matthews’ gold medal magic rubs off in the locker room. Like the Devils and a handful of lower-bubble teams, the Leafs will need to come out hot to have any chance of the playoffs. They can still put the puck in the net though, sitting just outside the top 10 in the NHL is goals-for. And with Point coming back fresh on the other side, against a Toronto team defense that ranks close to the bottom of the league – have a look at that reachable Over at 6.5.
Edmonton Oilers @ Anaheim Ducks
No player is looking at a tougher welcome back to the NHL than Connor McDavid is for the Oilers-Ducks game.
Covering 9,000 miles, after winning the MVP of the Olympics but coming up short in the gold medal game just 3 days earlier is about as tough of a turnaround as you can get. Watch the lineups ahead of the game to make sure that Edmonton is putting him in the lineup vs. giving him a chance to catch his breath.
But McDavid is a beast. He might just go on a tear against NHL teams to make up for the L in Italy. The oddsmakers aren’t discounting him or the Oil, making them the favorites at -135. The last meeting between the teams ended up in a 7-4 win for Edmonton, and goals are expected every time they play. The last 9 games between them have gone Over.
New York Islanders @ Montreal Canadiens
The NHL comes back even bigger on Thursday night with a 12-game schedule.
It’s the Canadiens-Islanders game that should grab most of the attention, with the biggest stars not added to Olympics rosters coming back after a long break.
Watch Matthew Schaefer for the Isles and Lane Hutson, Cole Caufield and Ivan Demidov for the Canadiens to be anytime goalscorers. All (except Demidov, whose Russian team wasn’t eligible to play) were controversially passed over for their Team Canada and Team USA squads. And all have had 3 weeks to get rested and come out firing for their first game back after the break.
The Canadiens get the slight edge here, sitting 3rd in the Eastern Conference while the Islanders are in 8th spot. But just three points separate the teams. This one’s looking like an OT play. And then give the Habs the edge – they’re third in the NHL in overtime wins.