NHL Picks: Best Bets for Thursday, Oct. 10

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Published on October 10, 2024

NHL Best Bets Tonight: Expert Hockey Parlay Picks for
Thursday, Oct. 10

We have nine games on tap in the NHL, as it really feels like the regular season is fully underway now. We had just three games for a taste on Tuesday, and five games on Wednesday, so this is easily the busiest day of the brand-new season.

We have five games in the early window, including an Original Six battle between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins at TD Garden at 7 p.m. ET, and that game can be streamed on ESPN+. There are three more games in the 8 p.m. ET, with a late game between the St. Louis and San Jose Sharks at 10:30 p.m. ET wrapping up the night.

We hit one of our parlays in the Wednesday column, but lost the others. Let's get on track, and build some bankroll for the early part of the season. Let's get started!

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With nine games, we'll cut down the analysis on each game for brevity's sake, but we'll try and use at least one pick in each of the parlays below.

Best NHL Picks Tonight

Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins

The Canadiens (1-0-0) and the Bruins (0-1-0) battle in an Original Six matchup at TD Garden.

Montreal picked up a 1-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it now faces a back-to-back. Last season, the Habs were 1-12-1 in 14 games when playing on no rest.

The Bruins suffered a 6-4 loss against the Florida Panthers, as Joonas Korpisalo was on the short end, with Jeremy Swayman not quite ready after a contract dispute in the preseason. After a couple of days to prepare, he is expected to start the home opener, and he faces a favorable situation based on Montreal's awful back-to-back numbers last season, and the fact backup Cayden Primeau is likely to start.

Since it's too expensive to play the B's straight up, go with the puck line.

Bruins PL (-1.5, +105 at BetMGM)

Los Angeles Kings at Buffalo Sabres

The Kings make their season debut in Western New York. L.A. was busy in the offseason, grabbing Ds Joel Edmundson and Caleb Jones to help on the back end, while punching up the offense with Fs Warren Foegele and Tanner Jeannot.

The Sabres dropped two games in the NHL Global Series against the New Jersey Devils in Prague, Czechia, getting outscored 7-2 in the two games, cashing low in both outings. Owen Power scored in the first game, and Tage Thompson had a goal in the second outing, both even strength.

The best move is to play the Under, as Darcy Kuemper looks to settle things down in L.A., and he could get off to a good start against what has been a toothless Sabres offense.

Under 6.5 (-120 at Caesars)

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Florida Panthers at Ottawa Senators

The defending champion Panthers raised a banner on Tuesday, then they raised cane against the Bruins with a 6-4 win.

The offense notched four goals in the first period, courtesy of Sam Bennett (x2), Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart. Florida went up 5-1, but the Bruins did fight back to make it a game late.

The Senators use Linus Ullmark in the cage, and he is likely to be opposed by Sergei Bobrovsky, who makes a second straight start. Go low.

Under 6.5 (-115 at Caesars)

Toronto Maple Leafs at New Jersey Devils

The Maple Leafs were tripped up 1-0 in Montreal on Wednesday night. Anthony Stolarz did his job, limiting the Habs to just a single power-play goal by Cole Caufield, but the high-priced octane could do nothing for Toronto in Craig Berube's debut.

The Devils already had two wins after dominating the Sabres at O2 Arena in Prague last week. With the Under going 2-0 for New Jersey, and Toronto getting blanked on Wednesday, let's go low.

Under 6.5 (+104 at FanDuel)

Utah Hockey Club at New York Islanders

The Utah Hockey made its franchise debut at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, winning 5-2. Dylan Guenther scored an even-strength goal at 4:56 of the first period, and he had an empty-net goal late to salt the game away.

Connor Ingram turned aside 24 of the 26 shots he faced in the win, but we're likely to see Karel Vejmelka. He faced the Islanders last season, and he was on the short end of a 1-0 loss.

The Islanders will have Semyon Varlamov in the crease for New York, and it will be tough for Utah to bring the same kind of emotion it had in the opener in its first road game.

Islanders ML (-154 at FanDuel)

Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings

The Penguins were dusted 6-0 at home against the visiting New York Rangers on Wednesday night, now they turn around and play the second end of a back-to-back with backup Joel Blomqvist in between the pipes.

The Red Wings missed the playoffs, but they're trying to rectify that. They inked two pieces of their young core to long-term deals, locking up Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. They also added some veteran help with F Vladimir Tarasenko, while bringing in Gs Cam Talbot and Jack Campbell to the goaltender room.

Look for the Red Wings to start well in a favorable spot against Pittsburgh's backup.

Red Wings ML (-130 at BetMGM)

Dallas Stars at Nashville Predators

The Stars and Predators could meet again in the spring for a lot bigger stakes, as both of these teams are considered among the favorites in the Western Conference.

The Preds made big moves to add Jonathan Marchessault and Steven Stamkos to beef up the offense, with Luke Schenn and Brady Skjei helping out on D.

For the Stars, they focused on rearguards, adding Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Brendan Smith to make sure defense holds it down. With the D adds, and a goaltender matchup of Jake Oettinger and Juuse Saros, goals should be at a premium.

Under 6.5 (-122 at FanDuel)

Columbus Blue Jackets at Minnesota Wild

The Blue Jackets and Wild each make their season debuts. And Columbus will be skating with heavy hearts after the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau in the offseason. It's hard to imagine how it will be able to have success after the face of the franchise passed away.

The Wild missed the playoffs with just 87 points, and they weren't terribly busy in the offseason. This will be a battle between two teams which missed the playoffs, and both who need a win for various reasons.

It's tough to take advantage of a team when it's emotionally down, but back the Wild over the Blue Jackets, who will take time to find themselves.

Wild PL (-1.5, -110 at DraftKings)

St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks

The Blues fired out of the box with a 3-2 victory against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday afternoon behind Jordan Binnington. Jordan Kyrou struck on the power play, while adding an even-strength goal, too. And Philip Broberg, signed to an offer sheet in the offseason, paid instant dividends.

The Sharks had the No. 1 overall pick, adding Macklin Celebrini to the ranks. He will give the team some excitement, while bringing in veterans Cody Ceci, Carl Grundstrom, Barclay Goodrow, Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg, while also landing the top goaltender prospect, Yaroslav Askarov, and another offensive prospect Will Smith.

Askarov will start in the minors, but the veterans they added will make this team much better immediately. Look for the Sharks to get off to a hot start, cooling off the Blues in their second game.