NHL Betting Guide: Tuesday 12/14/21
We lost two games due to postponement, but we still have 12 games on Tuesday. What bets can make us some money tonight?
Please note that lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published. Please check here to make sure you're seeing the most updated information.
New Jersey Devils vs. Philadelphia Flyers
New Jersey Moneyline (+104) 1-Star Rating Out of 5
New Jersey +1.5 (-250) 2-Star Rating Out of 5
This is certainly not the marquee game on the slate tonight, so it's the perfect game to make a little more interesting by throwing a wager down. The New Jersey Devils sit one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers at sixth place in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams have just two wins in their last 10 games, but the Devils could come away with the victory tonight.
The Flyers made their coaching change last week and have played four games since then. They are 2-2-0 in those four games, including a loss to the Devils. The Devils thoroughly outplayed the Flyers in that game, creating 3.19 expected goals and only allowing 1.48 expected goals against.
The Flyers may be getting a bit of respect from the betting market due to two straight wins. However, they got dominated by the Vegas Golden Knights in their victory on Friday and beat the lowly Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. These two wins shouldn't have done much to change the opinions of this team, who still allow the most expected goals against per 60 minutes in the league.
New Jersey will be without Nico Hischier and Ryan Graves in this game, two important players. They were also without these two on Saturday and played the New York Islanders very strongly in five-on-five situations. The Hischier absence also allows impressive rookie Dawson Mercer more ice time, where he could fill in nicely.
The Devils are likely a better team than the Flyers, so getting them as an underdog is a solid play. If you want to play it safe, the puck line is the way to go, but the moneyline is backed up by our model, as well.
St. Louis Blues vs. Dallas Stars
St. Louis Moneyline (+134) 2-Star Rating Out of 5
St. Louis +1.5 (-200) 2-Star Rating Out of 5
This is a Central Division matchup between two teams who are similar in style. They are both solid defensively and try to rely on depth at forward to get their goals. Both teams have injuries up front that will impact this game.
The Dallas Stars looked like they were heading for a hugely disappointing season. Then they won seven straight to resurrect their playoff hopes before losing three on the bounce. A lot of those wins had to do with the play of their first line, which was led by Roope Hintz, who will miss this game due to illness.
The St. Louis Blues have been dealing with injuries, as well, but have been respectable in dealing with it, with points in six of their last seven games. The All-Russian second line of Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev, and Pavel Buchnevich has really stepped up to fill in the void of David Perron from the lineup. They've also gotten solid production from the bottom six forwards, especially from new call-up Nathan Walker.
The Stars struggle to score, with their goals per 60 ranking 11th in the NHL. Now they are without Hintz, their number one center, but also without Alexander Radulov and Joel Kiviranta. Ville Husso will be in net for the Blues, and he's been respectable, saving 4.84 goals above expected. That doesn't bode well for Dallas to score a lot of goals in this game.
St. Louis has a good chance of winning this game, so the +134 is definitely a good bet. As we expected Dallas to struggle with scoring, the puck line is definitely a reasonable bet, as well, but obviously will offer less of a return.
