Welcome to Christmas eve week and happy holidays to everyone! What better way to offset some holiday shopping with some winning picks to put some money back in your pocket? This week will feature some big time slates around the NHL but unfortunatley tonight is not one of them with just 5 games. There are a couple plays that I like though that include a team total and a game total and if you like the rationale then tail the picks, if you don't feel free to fade as sometimes the best bets are the ones not taken!

  • Season Record: 49-44-2
  • Bankroll: +1.61 units
  • Dog of the Day Record: 2-3 (+0.5 Units)

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**all bets are one unit unless specifically mentioned.

NHL Best Bets for December 18

Anaheim Ducks at Detroit Red Wings

Time to apply the hockey betting golden rule on this Monday to start the week, when a team is playing a back to back on the road you fade them. This is especially the case if that team on short rest had to play both goaltenders so not even they are fresh! As you can see the Ducks are in a tough spot here and playing against a Red Wings team that scores 3.56 goals per game on home ice. That side I like but I don't trust the Ducks to do their part so the game total is out for me. Instead I am locked in the team total for the Red Wings as they sit at 3.5 goals. You'll pay some juice for it but the Detroit offense has been one of the best this season and they will be hungry for more tonight and they should top 4 goals without too much issue. 

Pick: Detroit Red Wings Team Total Over 3.5 Goals (-140 on BetMGM)

 

Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins

Its a matchup of two teams not living up to their full potential tonight as each roster has the pieces to be great but it has not happened just yet this season. To the Wild's credit though, they are starting to make moves with 7 wins in the last 10 but I'm not picking a winner tonight. Instead I am opting towards the total as the Wild are playing much better defense of late and their goaltender Filip Gustavsson has allowed just 7 goals over 5 games in the month of December. The Penguins are in a similar boat at home where they allow 2.46 goals per game, the 5th fewest in the NHL and the offense has really struggled overall to keep up and help the goaltenders. 6.5 goals seems like a big number for this matchup so let's fade the total and hit the under. 

Pick: Wild & Penguins Under 6.5 Goals (-130 on HardRock)