Welcome to the daily NHL betting market report, your source for comprehensive and dynamic hockey betting analysis. Follow me on Twitter to stay up to date as I handicap the NHL each day.
Market Report for Thursday, Oct. 20th
Recap: Wednesday was a light day. Nothing of interest to report.
Wins: 10 Losses: 8 Units Won: plus-0.79 units ROI: 4.8 percent
I’m tracking all my plays on Betstamp: a third party bet tracking app. The bets reveal themselves after the games start. I keep my own personal records as well and they may differ slightly from Betstamp due to several factors, but for the most part, it should line up closely. If you're curious, I've included the record from 2021-22 at the bottom of the article for transparency purposes.
Today: There are a dozen games today. Let’s not waste any time getting into it.
All game lines via DraftKings Sportsbook and BetMGM Sportsbook, but I will sometimes use the consensus odds from the VSiN NHL Odds page if it is a better price and widely available. All recommended bets will be accompanied by recommended stake.
Los Angeles (plus-165) at Pittsburgh (-185)
Kings’ forward Alex Iafallo travelled back to Los Angeles to deal with an injury that is expected to keep him out until the end of the month. This would have mattered a lot more last season, but L.A. is a deeper team now and will fare better than they would have in this type of spot than they would have before. This is their third game in four days, though, and their fourth game in six days. We haven’t gotten much of a look at the Penguins yet this season, as they’ve played just three games. One against the Lightning (who were playing tired without Andrei Vasilevskiy) and a couple of games, one of which they lost, against two of the worst teams in the league. The price is a little short on the Kings, here, but not short enough that I am willing to back them, yet.
Anaheim Ducks (plus-180) at Boston Bruins (-210)
I’m sure I’m not the only bettor that believes the Bruins’ effort on Thursday versus the Duck will be more reminiscent of their first three games than their last game against Ottawa. Boston did not start on time on Tuesday, and they’re probably kicking themselves for it. I mean, Boston was still able to score five goals against the Senators only playing at half speed for long stretches of the game.
The Ducks have looked awful to start the season, too. They fluked out a win in their home opener versus Seattle, but then they set out onto the road and lost the first three games. They’ve allowed at least four goals in each of their four games so far this season, while the Bruins have scored at least five goals in their four games.