Best NHL Bets Today: Expert Picks for Sunday, February 9

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Published on February 9, 2025

The National Hockey League (NHL) has just two games on tap for Sunday afternoon, as it's traditionally a light day. Hockey, and other sports, do not want to go up against the Super Bowl and get ignored in the television ratings, etc. It's also the final day before teams take off for the 4 Nations Face-off tournament. We have one final opportunity to build a little bit of scratch for the Super Bowl, the 4 Nations, etc. Let's get started.

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Best NHL Bets Today: Expert NHL Picks for
Sunday, Feb. 9

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.

Utah Hockey Club at Washington Capitals

The Utah Hockey Club (23-23-9) meet the Capitals (36-11-7) at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET. The game can be viewed or streamed on ESPN+.

This reminds me of two years ago when our family was in the DMV for Super Bowl Sunday. We caught a matinee game between the Sharks and Capitals before taking the Metro out to Alexandria to catch the Chiefs and Eagles in the Super Bowl at Theismann's Bar and Grill. That was a great afternoon of sports, eating and betting. They have two sportsbooks at Capital One Arena, and it's a recommended venue to see a game if you're ever in the area.

Anyway, Utah heads to the nation's capital looking to rebound after getting clapped by the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in Raleigh. Utah was on the short end of a 7-3 loss, as Karel Vejmelka took one for the team, allowing six goals on 37 shots.

It wasn't all bad for Utah, as Josh Doan had a power-play goal and Clayton Keller broke in for an unassisted marker and returned later with a power-play goal. Dylan Guenther had an assist and now has three goals and five points in just the past three outings.

The Capitals are well rested, last playing Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Washington picked up a 4-3 win in that one behind Charlie Lindgren. It came on the heels of a 6-3 doubling up of the Florida Panthers in the most recent home game Tuesday behind Logan Thompson.

The Caps are a solid 12-1-5 in the past 18 games, as the combination of Lindgren and Thompson has been scary good lately. The offense is on point, too, with the Caps going for 18 goals in the past four games (4.5 goals per game). The over has cashed in each of those four outings.

It's been a collective effort for the Caps, but no surprise Alex Ovechkin is leading the way. He has four goals and six points with a -2 rating in the past four games, as he continues to hurtle toward unseating Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer.

In addition, Dylan Strome has three goals and six points in the past five outings, while Aliaksei Protas has notched four goals and 10 points in the previous nine contests. John Carlson has chipped in with five helpers in the past five games.

We'll back the Capitals on the puck line and let's go over on the total, based on Washington's explosive offensive production lately.

Capitals -1.5 (+126 at Caesars Sportsbook)
Over 5.5 Goals (-113 at Fanatics Sportsbook)

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

Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens

The Lightning (30-20-4) and the Canadiens (25-25-5) meet at 1:00 p.m. ET. The game can be viewed or streamed on the NHL Network.

This is their third and final meeting of the regular season. Tampa Bay won't be sad to see Montreal go away. The Habs won 5-2 at Amalie Arena as a big underdog (+175) on Dec. 29 as the over (6.5) cashed. Montreal won at home as short underdogs (+123) by a 3-2 count on Jan. 21 in the most recent meeting.

In that home win, Montreal fell behind 2-0 as Tampa had goals from Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel. However, Juraj Slafkovsky notched a power-play goal to slice the lead in half. Less than two minutes later, Alex Newhook leveled things 2-2 at 7:21 of the second period. In the third, with just 2:15 left in regulation, Jake Evans beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for the winner, sending the crowd home happy.

Sam Montembeault stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced in that 3-2 win at Bell Centre. The 28-year-old Becancour, QC native was between the pipes Don ec. 29 for the win, turning aside 21 of the 23 shots he faced.

The good news for the Lightning is that Montembeault started Saturday's game against New Jersey – a 4-0 loss, so Jakub Dobes is confirmed to go in Sunday's game. The Lightning might not want to get too excited, though, as Dobes is 5-2-1 with a 2.45 GAA, .917 SV% and one shutout so far.

Tampa Bay doubled up the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday behind Vasilevskiy, so Jonas Johansson may get the starting nod between the pipes for the visitors.

The Lightning have cashed high in each of the past three games and the over is 5-2 in the past seven road contests. The over is 3-1 in Johansson's past four starts, too.

For the Canadiens, the over is 2-1 in the past three outings, while going 3-1 in Dobes' past four appearances. Let's back the Canadiens to maintain their mastery over the Lightning while siding high on the total.