NHL Thursday best bets: Potential goalie duel in St. Louis
Wednesday was a quiet night on the ice with only two games played. It's a much different story Thursday, as 26 of the NHL's 32 teams will be in action.
There's a lot of value on the board. Let's take a closer look.
Rangers (+100) @ Blues (-120)
Unders are always appealing when Igor Shesterkin is between the pipes. The 26-year-old netminder is gaining a lot of traction in the Hart Trophy race - and rightfully so. The level of hockey we've seen from him this season is astoundingly high.
Shesterkin owns a 28-6-3 record to go with a sparkling .942 save percentage. He also leads the league in goals saved above expected, sitting at plus-33.6 through just 37 appearances.
On average, Shesterkin concedes slightly below two goals per game. Put another way, the New York Rangers generally have to score quite a bit to push games over the number.
I don't expect them to do that against the St. Louis Blues. Not with the way projected starter Ville Husso has performed this season.
Jordan Binnington has faltered for much of the campaign, but Husso has proved more than capable of picking up the slack. He has posted a .930 save percentage through 22 games and, on a per start basis, only Shesterkin and Frederik Andersen grade out better in GSAE.
With two of the league's top netminders this season slated to square off, I have a hard time believing this will be a high-scoring affair. Back the under.
Bet: Under 5.5 (+100)
Blackhawks (+220) @ Bruins (-270)
The Boston Bruins are playing some of their best hockey this season. They own a 7-2-1 record over the last 10 games and have posted strong underlying numbers in the process.
Their share of the five-on-five shot attempts (53.33%), expected goals (54.32%), and high-danger chances (54.49%) all rank near the top of the NHL over those 10 contests.
Boston's offensive outputs are formidable, while its defensive metrics are astonishingly good. The Bruins have conceded 8.49 high-danger chances and 2.08 expected goals per 60, ranking first and second, respectively, in those categories.
That spells trouble for the Chicago Blackhawks. Even including last game's offensive outburst, the Blackhawks rank bottom-two in generating high-danger chances and expected goals over the last 10. They're struggling to create scoring opportunities with any sort of regularity.
I expect that will be the case again here. Chances should come few and far between for Chicago, which doesn't bode well given how well Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman is playing. He owns a .941 save percentage over his last 10 starts while rotating with Linus Ullmark. That should keep him fresh and ready to go when he does get the call.
Look for Swayman to limit Chicago's offense in what should be a relatively easy win for Boston.
Bet: Bruins -1.5 (-115)
Rapid fire: As noted above, Andersen has been one of the league's best netminders this season. It sounds as if he won't be ready to go for Thursday's heavyweight clash between the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche, which gives me an edge in this game. I like Colorado on the moneyline (-115).
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.