NHL Bets Today: Odds, predictions and best bets for Tuesday, April 6th

Thursday’s NHL schedule features 14 games as the NHL gets set to take a day off on Friday before all 32 teams are in action on Saturday. Check out today’s NHL odds, prediction and best bets for Thursday, April 6^th before you place your wagers. And, don't forget to listen to VSiN Hockey Betting Podcast later today as we'll be chatting with guest Arthur Staple, who covers the Rangers and Islanders for The Athletic.

NHL Schedule Breakdown

The following table highlights tired spots and/or days’ rest.

Rest	Away	Home	Away
4/6	CBJ	NJD	4/6
2	MIN	PIT	4/6
0	NYR	STL	4/6
4/6	CAR	NSH	3/4
4/6	LAK	VGK	3/4
2	ARI	SEA	3/4
4/6	TOR	BOS	3
0	TBL	NYI	3
4/6	PHI	DAL	2
4/6	OTT	FLA	1
3	WSH	MTL	1
1	BUF	DET	1
1	CHI	VAN	1
1	COL	SJS	1

Saturday’s NHL Odds and Best Bets via DraftKings

• Columbus Blue Jackets (+310) at New Jersey Devils (-380)
• Minnesota Wild (+115) at Pittsburgh Penguins (-135)
• Washington Capitals (-155) at Montreal Canadiens (+135)
• Ottawa Senators (+200) at Florida Panthers (-240)
• Toronto Maple Leafs (+130) at Boston Bruins (-150)
• Buffalo Sabres (-115) at Detroit Red Wings (-105)
• Tampa Bay Lightning (-105) at New York Islanders (-115)
• New York Rangers (-180) at St. Louis Blues (+155)
• Carolina Hurricanes (-175) at Nashville Predators (+150)
• Philadelphia Flyers (+230) at Dallas Stars (-275)
• Chicago Blackhawks (+185) at Vancouver Canucks (-215)
• Los Angeles Kings (+110) at Vegas Golden Knights (-130)
• Arizona Coyotes (+290) at Seattle Kraken (-350)
• Colorado Avalanche (-230) at San Jose Sharks (+195)

Visit VSiN NHL Odds to see the full board.

Today’s NHL Predictions and Best Bets

Tampa Bay Lightning (-105) at New York Islanders (-115)

Tampa Bay has gone 8-9 straight up since March 1^st and their results would be much worse if not for starting goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who will likely get Thursday off. Nothing has been confirmed, but the Lightning are in the process of playing three games in four days (they’ll play Ottawa on Saturday). Getting Vasilevskiy some rest before the playoffs start in less than two weeks is important, so it looks like backup Brian Elliott will be between the pipes when the Lightning take on the Islanders and that makes New York a good bet at -115.

Vasilevskiy ranks fourth in GSAx (goals saved above expected) and just in his last four starts, since the last time he backed up Elliott, he’s saved the team almost 10 goals more than an average goaltender would have had they faced the same shots. The Lightning rank 18^th on offense since the start of March and Elliott has allowed 20 goals in his last five starts. Islanders were shut out by the Lightning in Tampa Bay on April 1^st, but the switch from Vasilevskiy to Elliott is enough to outweigh that. Of course, I’m assuming that Ilya Sorokin is back in goal looking for revenge after being pulled in the second period when these two teams met last week because the Islanders are still fighting to secure a playoff spot.

Bet: New York Islanders -115 (Moneyline) to win one unit

Minnesota Wild (+115) at Pittsburgh Penguins (-135)

The Wild received good news on Wednesday when it was announced that star forward Kirill Kaprizov will travel with the team to Pittsburgh. Head coach Dean Evason said that Kaprizov will likely come wanting to play, but he won’t. However, the Wild could have both Kaprizov and Gustav Nyquist back for Saturday’s home game against the Blues.

That’s good for Pittsburgh, as the Penguins have fallen out of the wild card and sit one point back of Islanders for the final spot with just four games remaining. They’ve got a lot of motivation here, and maybe I’m not weighing that enough, but I believe a fair price for this game is around -130, so there’s no value play for me.

Buffalo Sabres (-115) at Detroit Red Wings (-105)

Rookie goaltender Devon Levi has impressed in his two starts for the Sabres. He’s posted a .942 save percentage after stopping 61 of 65 shots against the Rangers and Panthers. Unfortunately, the Sabres came up short against Florida, so their playoff hopes are fading fast. The Sabres basically need to win out, while hoping disaster will strike a team like the Islanders or Panthers. Detroit, on the other hand, is totally out of it, but they have won four out of their last five, including games against the Hurricanes, Penguins and Maple Leafs. Buffalo has won all three meeting versus Detroit this season by a combined score of 19-7 but they haven’t met since December 29^th and the Sabres offense has dropped off quite a bit since then.

Los Angeles Kings (+110) at Vegas Golden Knights (-130)

It looks like both teams could be missing key players on Thursday as Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore and Kings’ forward Kevin Fiala are listed day-to-day. Theodore last played on March 28^th, while Fiala has been in and out of the lineup over the last couple of weeks, but he has missed nine of the team’s last 12 games.

For my money, the Kings have been resting a little too much on the shooting and saving luck, as their strong underlying metrics have dipped over the last few weeks. The Kings were a top-five team in expected goals for a long stretch, but over their last 10 games they’ve been sitting at around 50 percent.

The same goes for the Golden Knights, who have been relying on their goaltenders to carry too much of the load for too long. While Los Angeles might be a value bet depending how things shake out with the lineups, my handicap is a long way from seeing Vegas as a -130 favorite. The Golden Knights don’t have strong underlying metrics (49 percent expected goals since March 1^st) and their goaltenders have stopped them from being one of the worst teams in the league in goals against. Vegas ranks 24^th in expected goals against but 11^th in goals against.

Toronto Maple Leafs (+130) at Boston Bruins (-150)

Money has pushed the Maple Leafs’ moneyline odds down slightly from they were when the market opened, likely since the Bruins might not roster all their top players. David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, the team’s veteran leaders, have been sitting out. With a full lineup, and some incentive to win the game, I’d have Boston priced around -160 on the moneyline. If Bergeron and Krejci sit out again, I’m closer to -140 with Ryan O’Reilly scheduled to return to the Maple Leafs’ lineup.

Colorado Avalanche (-230) at San Jose Sharks (+195)

On Tuesday, I had the Avalanche on the puck line (+115), hoping they would defeat the Sharks by at least two goals. Unfortunately, Cale Makar missed the game and that impacted the closing line value. However, things looked to be going well, as the Avalanche dominated as expected and entered the third period with a 3-1 lead. Unfortunately, the Sharks scored two goals and sent the game to overtime. Now, the two teams meet again, but this time, there’s at least some indication that Makar could be out of the lineup, unlike last time.

All bets tracked via third part app Betstamp.

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