This article is part of our NHL Picks series.
NHL Picks and Parlays: Expert NHL Bets Tonight (April 25, 2024)
We have two games on the National Hockey League playoff schedule for Thursday night, as both of the series in the Eastern Conference resume. The Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning tangle at 7 p.m. ET at Amalie Arena, and the game can be viewed on TBS, while the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders battle in Game 3 at UBS Arena, and the game can be viewed or streamed on ESPN2. Both of the home teams find themselves in an 0-2 series hole.
After an absolutely atrocious day of picks on Tuesday, when everything that could go wrong did go wrong, it was a complete relief to go a perfect 3-0 on the parlay picks. If you tailed those awful plays Tuesday, hopefully you bounced back with us Wednesday and cashed the big parlay, Western Conference play and underdog parlay we offered up last night! Let's get started!
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Best NHL Picks Tonight
Florida Panthers 
at Tampa Bay Lightning 
The Sunshine State rivalry series continues on Thursday night at Amalie Arena. The defending Eastern Conference champions take on the three-time Stanley Cup champs in a huge Game 3. Can Tampa Bay show that championship mettle and make a series of it? Or can the Panthers keep scratching their way to narrow victories?
Florida won a pair of 3-2 games on home ice, including an overtime win in Game 2 which saw Sergei Bobrovsky make one of the more ridiculous saves you'll ever see. He was protecting the near post, going down, then suddenly lurched to his left, with his back completely turned while facing the net, swatting a shot away which was ticketed for the open net. It saved Florida from potentially going down, and might have made a difference in the series. Instead of being tied 1-1, with a pivotal Game 3, the Lightning is now in an 0-2 series hole, and facing an unofficial elimination game. If they were to go down 3-0 in the series, it's curtains.
Tampa Bay lost Game 1 by a 3-2 score, but they scored with an extra attacker on a Steven Stamkos power-play goal with seconds remaining. It was a rather meaningless goal, unless, of course, you had the Panthers on the puck line.
We've had defense and goaltending winning the day in this series to date, and it's again the play here. I think Tampa shows up and makes a series of it, too. Same-Game Parlay (SGP) bettors will want to target the Lightning and the Under.
And for the really adventurous, since we only have two games, let's go with Stammer to get another goal, either on the power play, or otherwise. He has one in each game of the series, and he has accounted for half of Tampa Bay's goal production against Bob. Stamkos has a ridiculous 11 goals and 17 assists across the past 10 games since April 3, too.
- Lightning ML (-115 at DraftKings)
- Under 6.5 (-135 at ESPN Bet)
- Steven Stamkos Anytime Goal Scorer (+170 at FanDuel)
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Carolina Hurricanes 
at New York Islanders 
The Islanders are going to have to dig down deep and find some of that intestinal fortitude that only professional athletes possess. New York was up 3-0 in Carolina for Game 2, and it led 3-1 midway through the third period, only to see the lead get washed away by the Hurricanes. Eventually, the Canes won 5-3, as it was a "Marty Party" in Raleigh instead.
The Isles should be going home with a series split for Game 3, and things would look at lot different. Now, New York is fighting for its playoff lives, in an 0-2 series hole. They didn't play that poorly in Game 1, either, losing just 3-1. With a few small tweaks, things could go a different way.
Head coach Patrick Roy feels goaltending is what needs to change, and who can argue with the Hall of Fame tendy? Semyon Varlamov fell apart in the third period of Game 2, so Ilya Sorokin is getting plugged in for Game 3 looking to save the season, or at least extend it out a little bit. Sorokin was 1-1-1 in three starts against the Canes in the regular season, stopping 111 of the 121 shots he faced.
Frederik Andersen has been solid though, going 2-0-0 with a 2.02 GAA and .913 SV% in two games against the Isles in this series. He faced just 12 total shots for Game 2, with the Islanders scoring three, so New York should take a positive from that. But he has allowed just 18 goals in the past 12 starts since returning from injury on March 7. Roll with the Islanders, but expect another lower-scoring game, unlike Game 2.
- Islanders ML (+140 at BetMGM)
- Under 5.5 (-115 at BetMGM)
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NHL Parlays Tonight
5-Way Roll the Dice Parlay (+3815 at FanDuel)
- Lightning ML, Under 5.5 vs. Panthers, Steven Stamkos AGS - SGP (+876)
- Islanders ML, Under 5.5 vs. Hurricanes - SGP (+300)
3-Way Panthers at Lightning SGP (+876 at FanDuel)
- Lightning ML, Under 5.5 vs. Panthers, Steven Stamkos AGS
2-Way Hurricanes at Islanders SGP (+300 at FanDuel)
- Islanders ML, Under 5.5 vs. Hurricanes - SGP (+300)
2-Way Home-Team Parlay Parlay (+348 at FanDuel)
- Lightning ML (-115) vs. Panthers
- Islanders ML (+140) vs. Hurricanes
2-Way Under Parlay (+296 at FanDuel)
- Under 5.5 - Panthers at Lightning (+116)
- Under 5.5 - Hurricanes at Islanders (-120)
