The National Hockey League (NHL) has a total of 10 games on the slate for Thursday night, including the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets squaring off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+/hulu/Disney+. The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings are also available on ESPN+ and hulu at 10 p.m. ET.
And, in a lesser game, my Rusty Blades team faces my former squad, Ice Aged, in Hillsborough, N.C. in a playoff game. If a line was offered, I'd say bet the Under tonight, and probably take me Over 1.5 Penalty Minutes - lol.
Let's stay hot after a second straight 4-0 betting night! We'll provide single plays and parlay opportunities you could potentially pair with NBA action and NCAA basketball. Good luck with all of your plays! Let's get started.
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NHL Best Bets Tonight: Blues vs Bruins & Blackhawks vs Kings Odds & Picks
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.
NHL Best Bets and Odds Breakdown for Tonight's Matchups
St. Louis Blues 
at Boston Bruins 
The Blues (9-11-7) and Bruins (15-13-0) meet at 7 p.m. ET at TD Garden on ESPN+.
St. Louis opens a three-game Atlantic Division road trip in Beantown. The Blues, who are 4-5-3 on the road this season, have been playing much better hockey of late. While they're coming off a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the Blues are 5-3-5 in the past 13 games after an absolutely wretched October.
The 4-1 loss to the Ducks was a rarity, too, as the previous seven games had each been decided by one goal.
While not much was expected from the Bruins this season, one that was to be a rebuilding season of sorts, it has held its head above water, especially at home, where they're 9-5-0.
Being the home team hasn't meant much in this series in recent seasons, with the road team skating away with two points in five straight battles since April 2, 2023. The last time the home team successfully defended its own ice was a 3-1 win by the B's back on April 19, 2022, so it's been a minute.
Boston is coming off a 5-4 loss at Detroit in the second end of a home-and-home with the fellow Original Six member Red Wings, and it is 3-3-0 in the past six games, while the Under is 4-2 in that span, and 6-3 in the past nine outings.
For the Blues, it's been all Under all the time lately, going 8-1 across the past nine games. In fact, St. Louis has scored two or fewer goals in eight of the past nine games, while allowing three or fewer goals in seven of the previous eight. Goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer have deserved a much better fate
Binnington (6-5-5, 3.20 GAA, .879 save percentage) is confirmed to start for the Blues, while Joonas Korpisalo (4-6-0, 3.51 GAA, .879 save percentage) is confirmed for the Bruins. The Over has cashed in each of Korpisalo's past three starts.
While the Under has been the trend, we're going to go high on the total, and back the Blues to get the job done on the road, too.
- Blues ML (-145 at Caesars Sportsbook)
- Over 5.5 (-115 at DraftKings Sportsbook)
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Chicago Blackhawks 
at Los Angeles Kings 
The Blackhawks (11-9-6) and Kings (12-7-7) do battle in the 10 p.m. ET game at Crypto.com Arena on ESPN+ and hulu.
This is the second meeting of the season, as Los Angeles posted a 3-1 win in Chitown as moderate favorites (-155) back on Oct. 26 as the Under (6) comfortably cashed behind Anton Forsberg, who kicked aside 22 of the 23 shots he faced for the road win. Oddly enough, the Kings also won 3-1 in Chicago in the final meeting last season on March 20.
In that win, Chicago's Connor Bedard gave the home team the lead with an assist to Ilya Mikheyev, and that's how the score stood until early in the second period. Alex Laferriere and Kevin Fiala flipped the script, scoring two goals within 84 seconds of each other early in the second, and Joel Armia added a shorthanded empty-net goal to put a bow on the scoring. Arvid Soderblom of the Blackhawks probably deserved better, but the offense for Chicago just couldn't solve Forsberg.
The Blackhawks head to La La Land with a 5-4-3 record on the road, while the Kings are just 3-5-3 on home ice, doing a much better job on the road at 9-2-4.
Spencer Knight (8-5-5, 2.52 GAA, .917 save percentage, 1 SO) is projected to go for the visitors, while Darcy Kuemper (8-5-5, 2.37 GAA, .908 save percentage, 1 SO) will likely be tabbed for the home side. It's crazy that both tendies have identical records and near-identical GAA marks. We should be in for a treat, and one which is rather low-scoring like the previous two installments in this series.
Let's take the Blackhawks on the puck line as underdogs for a little insurance, and we'll go low on the total.
- Blackhawks +1.5 Goals (-140 at BetMGM)
- Under 5.5 (-105 Bet365, Caesars and DraftKings Sportsbooks)
Don't make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.
Top Parlay Strategies and Must-Take Multi-Leg NHL Plays
4-Leg NHL Parlay (+689 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Blues ML at Bruins and Over 5.5 - SGP (+190)
- Blackhawks +1.5 at Kings and Under 5.5 - SGP (+171)
2-Leg NHL Totals Parlay (+247 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Over 5.5 (-122) - Blues at Bruins
- Under 5.5 (110) - Blackhawks at Kings
2-Leg NHL Sides Parlay (+176 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Blues ML (-150) at Bruins
- Blackhawks +1.5 (-152) at Kings
