Following an awesome weekend on the ice and prior to the start of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, is a great Monday NHL slate to enjoy! You may see that there are only five games, but with an ESPN doubleheader and multiple cross-conference games, we’re here to hook you up with our NHL best bets today and NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions.

You can also check out some tools ASAP with the fantasy sports promo codes from the top legal sites in your state. Furthermore, dominate your NHL DFS contests today with our DFS Playbook, Player Projections, Lineup Generator & DFS Tools!

🏒 NHL Picks, Predictions & Best Bets Today, 3/16

The aforementioned NHL on ESPN doubleheader features a cross-divisional game with Jack Hughes and the Metro’s New Jersey Devils hosting David Pastrnak and the Atlantic’s Boston Bruins. It’s a matchup that saw Boston come through for NHL best bets today and NHL expert picks in a 4-1 fashion back in December.

As for the second ESPN matchup, it’s an interconference clash of a different black and yellow team - the Sidney Crosby-less Pittsburgh Penguins - headed west to take on Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche. That’s actually one of the matchups that we’re going to focus on with our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions.

Regarding our NHL best bets for today, let’s get into some overall predictions so that we can break down who we’d build your lineups around. 
 

 

 

🔥 Bruins vs. Devils Prediction: Boston ML (+110 at Novig)

For our first pick, we’re not going to make you wait at all, as we’re targeting that first NHL on ESPN doubleheader game. It’s also a game in which we could see a big fantasy day for the Boston netminder as a bit of a bonus pick to our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions.

That correlates to us having Boston winning the game with our NHL best bets today, just like they did against New Jersey in the prior matchup. Jack Hughes and company are likely riding high after their big win over the Los Angeles Kings, but even with that six-goal performance, New Jersey still has the fifth-worst record at home this year.

Admittedly, Boston isn’t considered a dominant road team either, but their goaltending has vastly improved since the Olympic break, allowing the seventh-fewest goals per game. It may not be by another three-goal margin, but we’re starting up our NHL best bets today with the Bruins ML (+110 at Novig)

🔥 Kings vs. Rangers Prediction: Los Angeles ML (-108 at Novig)

Right alongside the start of the above Bruins vs. Devils game is the Kings vs. Rangers matchup, and we’ve got the road team for the cross-country clash. We just mentioned the Kings' loss to the Devils, but as they travel across the street to Madison Square Garden, we’ve got them bouncing back with our NHL best bets today.

There’s no denying that the Rangers have been better than they were in the first part of the season, but not enough to instill confidence. After all, they’ve still got the second-worst home record (only the Vancouver Canucks have been worse), and the Kings are actually among the best road warriors this season.

LA has the seventh-best winning percentage in that regard, and this is the final game of the east coast road trip before heading back to SoCal. Like the first of our NHL best bets today, nothing flashy here - just the Kings ML (-108 at Novig).
 

 

 

🏒 Best NHL Prop Bets & Other Picks Today, 3/16

With those overall predictions under your belt, and before we break down our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions, here are some popular NHL player props for today:

Anytime Goal Scorer:

Shots on Goal (Over/Under):

Assists (Over/Under):

🏒 Today's NHL DFS Cheat Sheet & Stacks

🏅 Skater of the Day: Nathan MacKinnon

As we alluded to way back before we even shared our NHL best bets today, we said that we’d be focused on the Penguins vs. Avalanche ESPN game. It’s about as clear-cut a target for our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions, and while it may not be an outside-the-box one, we’re highlighting MacKinnon tonight.

He’s on his way to the Rocket Richard Trophy for the most goals this season, and he’s scored in three of the last five games and four of the last six. We won’t act like the Pens are the worst goaltending team in the NHL, but the Avalanche are simply matchup-proof, especially when they’re on home ice.

Speaking of which, we’ll never complain about some home-ice advantage when it comes to stat-keeping shots on goal for the volume shooter. It all adds up to us having Nathan MacKinnon as part of our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions!

🏅 Goalie of the Day: Dustin Wolf

The above Penguins vs. Avalanche game is the nightcap, and we’ve already targeted two of the three early games with our NHL best bets today. Well, we’re going to circle back to the early part of the slate with Flames vs. Red Wings to add to our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions.

It’s yet another interconference clash where we’ve got the Calgary netminder boosting your lineups. That’s the case more often than not, as he’s often had plenty of save opportunities. Not only are the Flames allowing the seventh-most shots per game throughout the season, but also the second-most since the Olympic break!

Meanwhile, Detroit’s got skaters that love to shoot the puck like Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin while scoring the third-fewest goals per game since the break. Therefore, the goalie of the day from our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions is Dustin Wolf.

🏅 Value Pick of the Day: Anze Kopitar

As far as our value play goes, it also correlates with one of our overall predictions. That’s because we’re adding to our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions with a seasoned veteran on the Kings.

Targeting skaters against Igor Shesterkin is not something we’ll see more often than not, but with a $4,500 price point on DraftKings, we simply can’t pass it up. The LA center is projected within a few fantasy points of every other premier skater at the position outside of Nathan MacKinnon, so the price makes him easy to plug and play.

The lifetime King is also coming off a two-goal game and has at least one point in every game this month except for one! For the value, Anze Kopitar makes the cut for our NHL DFS cheat sheet predictions today.

 

 

 

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