Senators to stomp struggling Blue Jackets on Tuesday

Find year-round coverage of betting news and insights for all sports by visiting our Betting section and subscribing to push notifications.

Another day, another split for our sides and totals. The Devils cruised to victory against the Kraken, but, unfortunately, the Golden Knights laid a rare egg at home.

We'll take the split and aim for a sweep with a couple of sides for Tuesday's card.

Blue Jackets (+160) @ Senators (-190)

The Senators are really starting to turn a corner. They own a 6-2-2 record over the last 10 games and have posted sparkling underlying numbers, controlling a larger share of the expected goals at five-on-five than all but the Panthers during that span.

Shane Pinto's return has given the Senators three lines capable of driving play and producing offense, while the team's defense is making some traction under head coach Jacques Martin.

Although the goaltending remains hit-and-miss, that shouldn't be too problematic against the Blue Jackets.

They spend a lot of every game on their heels and aren't the most threatening team to opposing goaltenders. The Jackets rank 22nd in expected goal generation and 24th in goals over the last 10 games.

They also have goaltending issues of their own. Elvis Merzlikins has allowed three-plus goals in nine of his last 11 starts, while Daniil Tarasov has conceded at least three in all but two games all season.

I don't think the Blue Jackets' defense and goaltending will hold up against a vastly improving Senators team. Injuries to Adam Fantilli and Yegor Chinakhov also make it a lot harder for Columbus to keep up offensively.

Look for the Senators to take care of business inside 60 minutes.

Bet: Senators in regulation (-130)

Hurricanes (+100) @ Stars (-120)

The Hurricanes finally look like the team everyone expected them to be before the season.

They're dominating in the shot and chance departments every night. With Andrei Svechnikov healthy again, Carolina is much more likely to convert those edges into results.

The Hurricanes are also getting improved play between the pipes. They don't need great goaltending to win games because of how strong they are defensively. Carolina just needs competency, which the team is now getting.

On paper, the Stars have a much better goaltending tandem. Jake Oettinger hasn't been great this season, though, and the play we're seeing from him and Scott Wedgewood is especially underwhelming.

Dallas owns a .895 team save percentage since the calendar flipped. That's nowhere close to good enough for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

If the Stars aren't going to reliably get saves, I don't like their chances against an elite shot-generation team that gives up very little at the other end.

I also think Dallas removing Wyatt Johnston from the top line is a mistake the team may pay for in this game. The top line with Pavelski is only plus-three on the season over 400 minutes (it's plus-eight with Johnston over a much smaller sample), and their underlying numbers are nowhere close to as strong.

Without Johnston, Dallas' top line is much less likely to win a best-on-best battle against Carolina's top line.

This should be a hotly contested game, but I like the Hurricanes to leave with two points when all is said and done.

Bet: Hurricanes (+100)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.