Golden Knights (31-17-6) ML at Devils (30-19-6): -108, BetMGM
Las Vegas has lost four straight games coming into this one, and are now on the road against a very good New Jersey Devils team. Many people will fade the Knights with their recent losing streak, however, three of those four losses were decided by one goal. In all, the Knights were outscored 7-12 in that span, which isn’t some huge tilt. In fact, Las Vegas actually outshot their opponents 124-94 during their current losing streak, so records can be deceiving to how they have actually played.
In their last game, they lost 2-1 to the New York Islanders while surrendering just 14 shots on their net the entire game. That is extraordinarily unlucky and unfortunate, as you rarely will lose a game when you allow that few attempts on your net. Not to mention Vegas created 9.65 expected goals at 5-on-5 over their losing streak and managed to net just five of them.
The Devils will have goaltender Jake Allen in net with starter Jacob Markstrom out with injury. In five starts since Markstrom went down, Allen has not faced an offense ranked above 13th in the NHL, while Vegas ranks fourth despite their recent cold streak. I think this is a great spot to back the Golden Knights to bounce back and snap their losing streak, especially at -108 odds where we don’t have to pay a price.
Utah Hockey Club (22-22-9) ML at Blue Jackets (26-21-7): -150, BetMGM
I typically hate paying this kind of price in hockey with some of the insane statistical outcomes that we get in this game, but this seems like a really good spot to back the hockey club in Columbus. There has clearly been some sharp money coming in on Utah as well, as this line opened last night at -120 and has climbed all the way up to -150 over the past few hours. There is a reason for that aggressive line movement.
Despite having a better record and playing at home, the Blue Jackets continue to become a bigger and bigger underdog as the hours go by. I am even more happy to bet this when I look at the latest betting splits on the game. 64% of the bets and 58% of the money is on the Blue Jackets. This means we have reverse line movement, where the money is going into one side, but the line is moving in the opposite direction. This only happens when respected money is on one side, and believe it or not, many of these professional betting syndicates bet on hockey. They will bet on anything that they think will make them money.
Neither of these teams inspire much confidence, but the Blue Jackets are definitely the better team, and yet they continue to have the line move against them at home. I’ll follow the sharp action here and take Utah to get the win tonight in Columbus.
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