The NHL betting board has 10 games on the slate tonight, highlighted by six Canadian clubs squaring off in the always-entertaining North Division.
We break down the hockey odds for two of those games, plus a matchup between two of the lowest-scoring teams in the league, in our NHL picks and predictions for Thursday, February 11.
NHL picks for today
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Chicago Blackhawks
One of the biggest stories early in this season has been the play of Blackhawks undrafted rookie goalie Kevin Lankinen. The 25-year-old Finnish netminder is 5-1-3 this year with a 2.17 goals-against average, .933 save percentage and 8.5 goals saved above average. His goaltending, along with the Blackhawks averaging just 2.79 goals per game, had led to the total going Under in four of his last six starts and six of Chicago's last eight games overall—the exception being two high-scoring games against Carolina.
The Blackhawks most recently won a pair of 2-1 games against high-scoring Dallas (both in overtime, nonetheless), and now shift gears to face a Blue Jackets club that averages a paltry 2.71 gpg. Columbus has seen an uptick in offense since sniper Patrick Laine joined the club (3-1 O/U in four games with him in the lineup), but those games were against the aforementioned Stars and Hurricanes, teams not nearly as defensively responsible as Chicago.
Both of these clubs are in the bottom 7 in the league in Corsi For (shots on net + blocked shots + missed shots) per 60 minutes, meaning neither team is overly great at generating chances. These teams mustered just seven goals in their last two head-to-head matchups combined, and with Lankinen likely starting again, plus Chicago topping two goals just once in its last six non-Carolina games, we're looking at the Under 5.5 tonight.
PREDICTION: Under 5.5 (-103)
Ottawa Senators vs Winnipeg Jets
The Senators have held opponents to three goals or fewer in four straight games. Have they finally figured out how to stop pucks from going in their net at an absurd rate? I'm not so sure.
Yes, Ottawa has played four reasonably strong defensive games against high-scoring Montreal and Edmonton, but three of those four contests were at home, where the Sens give up a pedestrian 3.13 goals per 60 minutes. But when they're on the road? Well, they surrender a whopping 5.14 goals/60.
Six of Ottawa's seven road games this season have been out West – its only Eastern road was a 3-2 win against Montreal – and guess where tonight's away game is? The lovely Western confines of Winnipeg, which is ninth in the league with 3.42 goals per game, and finally has recently-acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois in the lineup.
The former third-overall pick struggled in his Jets debut on the road against rival Calgary, playing just 13 minutes and getting thoroughly dominated in possession with a 25 percent Corsi For percentage and 29.4 Fenwick For percentage in that game. It's hard to fault Dubois for having a rough go in his first game action in almost three weeks, and we'd expect things to get better for him quickly—especially with sniper Kyle Connor skating alongside him.
Dubois has always been a strong possession driver that generally plays around 17-18 minutes per game. Look for him to be more comfortable in his second game and make a bigger impact tonight, giving the Jets three dangerous scoring lines. In a plum matchup against a team that struggles mightily on the road, bet on the Jets to roll.
PREDICTION: Winnipeg -1.5 (+113)
Calgary Flames vs Vancouver Canucks
Sticking with another all-Canadian matchup, are the Canucks actually the worst defensive team in the NHL? Vancouver is 30th in the league at 3.94 goals against per game, and outside of a four-game stretch (three of which were against offensively-bereft Ottawa) in which it allowed one goal per game, the Canucks have surrendered 3+ goals in every game this season.
Vancouver is coming off a five-game stretch against Montreal and Toronto that saw it give up 6, 5, 7, 5 and 3 goals (5.2 per game), which could be the perfect remedy for a Flames star forward to break out of a lamp-lighting slump.
Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames with seven goals and 13 points, but he has just one tally in his last four games. Considering that Vancouver has generally been torched by their recent opponents' leading scorer (Auston Matthews for Toronto, Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson for Montreal), let's make a play on Gaudreau finding the back of the net again against a porous Canucks D.
PREDICTION: Johnny Gaudreau anytime goal (+212)
Top NHL consensus for today
Want to know who today's biggest NHL betting and consensus bets are right now? Check out our top NHL consensus picks.
NHL betting card for February 11
- Columbus-Chicago Under 5.5 (-103)
- Winnipeg -1.5 (+113)
- Johnny Gaudreau anytime goal (+212)
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