Previews for NHL games from January 27 – February 1
Buffalo Sabres @ Toronto Maple Leafs
The NHL’s hottest team this side of Colorado is still the Buffalo Sabres.
More specifically, goalie Alex Lyon is the hottest netminder in the NHL. He’s fresh off his 9th straight win for the Sabres, blanking the Islanders last weekend 5-0.
Watching the Sabres right now, you see a team that is built for the playoffs. They’re rolling 4 lines easily, each one playing an aggressive, puck-pursuit style that gives teams no time to develop plays.
All this is bad news for Toronto in Tuesday’s Sabres-Maple Leafs game.
The Leafs are the annual drama queens of the NHL, and this week again they’re getting distracted by off-ice issues regarding William Nylander and captain Auston Matthews’ leadership. Lots of talk about selling and resetting the entire franchise. The TLDR: the vibes in Toronto are not good at the moment, while they couldn’t be better in Buffalo. For NHL betting fans who are looking for an edge here, the eye test and the stats are all you need.
Toronto is still 5 games above .500, if you’re looking for silver linings as a Leafs bettor. That’s good for only 7th in the ultra-tight Atlantic Division though. And if you like a bit of added desperation to keep it close, Toronto needs a W here to avoid going completely winless on a 5-game homestand. But at 27th in the NHL in goals allowed and a bottom-feeding 32nd in shots allowed, this is the worst matchup at the worst time for the Leafs.
With Nylander still out, the complete lack of momentum in Toronto, and players like Buffalo’s Tage Thompson emerging as one of the best players in the NHL, it’s going to take more than desperation to keep this one close.
Check the latest odds at Lucky Rebel.
Vegas Golden Knights @ Montreal Canadiens
Montreal handled Vegas 4-1 in their last meeting this past November in Vegas. Can the Knights return the favor in Tuesday’s Vegas-Montreal game?
Montreal is in a mini-slump, dropping two straight games heading into this one. They’re in the thick of the Atlantic race right now and need every point they can get. A 4 or 5-game winless skid right now can put any team in the division out of a playoff spot.
The Golden Knights are a streaky team themselves. After a 7-game win streak to start the new year, they’ve just dropped 3 out of their last 4, including a 7-1 stomping by Ottawa last weekend. They’ll be coming out hot at the Bell Centre to avoid another embarrassment.
It’s a tricky game for Montreal bettors. The Habs are one of the best stories in the NHL, with a top 5 goals scored ranking and 5 players with 40+ points, and they’re the youngest team in the league. But they’ve cooled off lately, going just 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. Is that youth built for tough times? We’ll see. They’re also looking at Colorado and Buffalo later this week.
For this matchup, the Canadiens are facing Rasmus Andersson in just his third game with his new team, and elite forward Jack Eichel is one game removed from a 14-game point streak. Points could be had all over the place, especially with Montreal’s mediocre goaltending.
Vegas is a solid play for first period Over bets too. They’re third in the NHL right now at 32-17 in that category, and with the Canadiens often letting in the early shots, it’s a tempting combo to play the Over here, for the first 20 minutes if not the full game.
Chicago Blackhawks @ Minnesota Wild
A couple of NHL All-Stars are the highlight of Tuesday’s Chicago-Minnesota game.
The Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard is back from an injury that interrupted his breakout season, while Minnesota’s Kiril Kaprizov – the NHL’s highest-paid player – is the 7th-highest scoring player in the league right now.
Bedard is on pace to get close to a 50-goal season and he’s still finding his legs and his shot after the injury, so grabbing him as an anytime goalscorer in what should be a fast-paced game could be the play. The Wild are among the NHL leaders in pace, which should mean Chicago will get its chances too. And Bedard is getting his shots in – over 3 per game – so it’s just a matter of time before he starts potting goals again.
All that firepower and pace on the ice is shaping up to be a solid Over play too. The Wild have hit the Over in their 9 of their last 10 games.
Colorado Avalanche @ Detroit Red Wings
Sakic, Forsberg, Roy, Yzerman, Fedorov… one of the NHL’s best-ever rivalries saw the Avalanche and Red Wings collect five Stanley Cups between them and the best string of head-to-head playoff series ever.
This season is the first since that era where that rivalry could start again.
Colorado is of course on another level, still on track to have the most successful season in NHL history. But Detroit is looking like a top 3 team in the Eastern Conference, and this Saturday afternoon matchup could be a great preview of what’s coming in June.
The Wings started the week just one point back of the East-leading Lightning. They’re especially strong on the PP, ranking 6th in the NHL. And while there’s no Yzerman or Fedorov, they have a balanced attack that should keep the goals down enough against the Avs to give them a shot at the W at home.
Los Angeles Kings @ Carolina Hurricanes
Los Angeles could be one of the more underrated teams heading into the Kings-Hurricanes game this Sunday afternoon.
They did lose 4 straight earlier this month, but 3 of those games came down to OT or a shootout. And they’ve got an Olympic-level goalie in Darcy Kuemper, who can shut down the Canes’ high-powered attack. Carolina entered this week 4th in the NHL in goals scored.
And Carolina might just be too powerful overall right now. They just beat Florida 9-1 as part of a 4-1 record in their last 5 before the week started and followed it up with tough wins against the Devils and the red-hot Sabres.
Every NHL team is battling for spots in the playoff hunt before a 3-week Olympic break, and Carolina’s been in and out of the top spot in the East for weeks now. They won’t – and can’t – take their foot off the gas until the Winter Olympics start later next week.