Best NHL Bets: Stanley Cup Playoffs Picks for Tuesday, April 22

Written by

Daniel Dobish

Published on April 22, 2025

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The National Hockey League has four playoff games on tap, including Game 1 of the Eastern Conference best-of-seven series between the Sunshine State rival Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The puck drops at 6 p.m. ET in Raleigh for Game 2 of the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes, while the action wraps up at 11 p.m. ET with the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights. Is this the best time of year, or what? Let's get started.

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Best NHL Bets Today: Expert NHL Picks for
Tuesday, April 22

For the latest NHL Odds, including NHL Futures and NHL player props, visit RotoWire's NHL Betting page. For up-to-date NHL player news and NHL Injury Report info, head to RotoWire's NHL Lineups page. You can find more picks at Bookies.com/picks. Here are our NHL Best Bets today, featuring expert NHL picks for an action-packed slate of games.

New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes

The Devils and the Canadiens play Game 2 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C., with a 6 p.m. ET puck drop. The game can be viewed on ESPN.

The Hurricanes pounded the Devils 4-1 in Game 1, allaying some fears Caniacs and bettors had about the viability of this team as a championship contender. Not only did Carolina have a 45-to-24 advantage in shots on goal, but the Canes were easily the more physical team, racking up 45 hits, to just 24 for the Devils.

It wasn't all bad for Jersey, as it won 60.6 percent of the faceoffs, winning 40 of the 66 battles at the dot. However, it was 0-for-2 on the power play, while Carolina was 1-for-3 on the man advantage, as Logan Stankoven struck on the power play for one of his two goals. Mikko who?

The biggest takeaway from Game 1 was the play of Frederik Andersen. He was, quite frankly, trash down the stretch of the regular season. However, it's like a switch was flipped, and he kicked aside 23 of the 24 shots he faced in the series opener, as only Nico Hischier beat him on a pretty breakaway pass and snap shot in a 4-on-4 situation.

If the Canes can continue to outwork the Devils, and Andersen can give them rock-solid goaltending, this might not be a long series. However, backing the Canes straight up will cost you more than two times around two and a half times your potential return. That's ridiculous. Expect a much better defensive effort from the Devils in Game 2, and taking Jersey on the puck line as an underdog makes way more sense.

Devils +1.5 (-125 at DraftKings Sportsbook)
Under 5.5 Goals (-130 at DraftKings Sportsbook)

Don't make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.

Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs

It's Game 2 of the Senators-Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. ET, and the game can be viewed on ESPN2.

Toronto got off to a hot start, racking up six goals in the series opener, but don't quite start planning that parade down Yonge Street quite yet.

Ottawa was much more physical in Game 1, delivering 56 hits to just 30 for Toronto, and it was a lack of discipline for the Senators which got them in trouble. It had 38 penalty minutes, leading to six power-play opportunities for the home side, with Toronto potting three goals on the man advantage. They really sold Linus Ullmark out.

The Leafs did pay the price more, picking up 18 blocked shots, to just 12 for the Sens, and Toronto had eight takeaways, to only three for Ottawa, while doing a much better job in the faceoff circle, too at 56.1 percent.

This series isn't over, though, not by a long shot. Whether you lost a game by one goal or by four, it's still just one loss. Ottawa can still gain a series split by reverting back to its form, which earned a regular-season series sweep of Toronto, but can it go back to that form? The Senators allowed 19 goals in the final five regular-season games, and six markers in Game 1. That's an avalanche of goals. The best play here is to back the Over, however, we'll play it safe and take the Senators on the puck line as underdogs, expecting a bit better of a performance from Travis Green's bunch.

One thing to watch closely too, is the health of Toronto tendy Anthony Stolarz. Ridly Greig, who had one of the two goals for Ottawa, crashed the net hard in the third period, and Stolarz appeared to get up gingerly. He had surgery on his knee earlier in the season, and he could be nursing a potential lower-body ailment. It's speculation, but he did miss a voluntary practice Monday, opting to rest. So, there's that.

Senators +1.5 (-165 at BetMGM)
Over 5.5 Goals (-120 at BetMGM)

Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning begin their best-of-seven series at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The Lightning and Panthers split the four-game regular-season series, and that's probably what you can expect here. It will be a close series, and most of the games will be tight, physical and the goaltending should reign supreme.

Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy struggled to return to form last season, as he was recovering from back surgery. He was back to 100 percent this season, and he had a career-best 2.18 GAA with a solid .921 save percentage and six shutouts, tied for the second-most of his career. He was also among the best in goalie point share, too. Vasilevskiy enters the playoffs on fire, and that's bad news for everybody else.

The Panthers are the defending champs, and they ousted the Lightning last season in five games. Expect a much better series from Tampa this time around, though.

The home team was 2-2 in the regular-season series, so there isn't much to glean there. The Under was 2-0 in the two games in Sunrise, and the Over was 1-0-1 in the two games in Tampa. We should have goals at a premium in Game 1, though, as we mentioned how hot Vassy has been, and Sergei Bobrovsky was otherworldly in the postseason in 2024, leading the Cats to the Cup. We'll lean Tampa on the ML, but the best bet here is to look low on the total.

Lightning ML (-115 at Bet365 Sportsbook)
Under 5.5 Goals (-106 at FanDuel Sportsbook)

Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights

The Wild and Golden Knights square off at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN from T-Mobile Arena, capping off an action-packed Tuesday.

If you had Wild +1.5 and Under 5.5 like we did in Sunday's column, our condolences. In Game 1, it was about the worst bad beat you could ever take. With VGK up 3-2, Brett Howden was credited with an empty-net goal just 0.1 seconds left, flipping the puck line win to Vegas, while changing an Under to an Over for the total. Vegas won 4-2. After winning the first six ends, I lost on a seven-game parlay earlier in the season on an Alex DeBrincat empty-net goal at 19:59 of the third period in a Carolina-Detroit game, so I feel your pain.

Vegas has won six in a row in this series, and nine of the past 10 meetings. The Golden Knights outscored the Wild 12-4 in the regular season, and they outshot the visitors at a 27-to-20 clip. Minnesota was much more physical, dishing out 54 hits to just 29 for Vegas. However, the VGK power play was, pun totally intended, golden, going 2-for-2, and the Knights sold out for 25 blocked shots in front of Adin Hill, while the Wild were good for just 16.

Minnesota wasn't that far off from stealing Game 1. You can't back VGK straight up, as they'll cost you around two and a half times your potential return. That's too much risk. Take the Wild again on the puck line as underdogs, and hope that ENG doesn't rear its ugly head again. We'll go low, too. After taking an ugly, underserved L, you have to stay the course, and you can't be scared off by the results of previous games.