Best NHL Bets Today: Expert Picks for Thursday, February 27

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Published on February 27, 2025

The National Hockey League has 12 total games on tap for Thursday night, including the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins meeting at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+/hulu/Disney+. We'll preview a few of the games, trying to best prepare you for some same-game and multi-leg parlay possibilities. Let's get started.

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Best NHL Bets Today: Expert NHL Picks for
Thursday, Feb. 27

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.

Columbus Blue Jackets at Detroit Red Wings

The Blue Jackets (28-22-8) and Red Wings (30-22-6) battle at Little Caesars Arena at 7 p.m. ET, and the game can be viewed or streamed on ESPN+.

These teams will meet Saturday on the campus of Ohio State University for the NHL Stadium Series outdoor game at Ohio Stadium, and there is a crowd of more than 90,000 spectators expected. So, this is a bit of a warm-up, or an undercard, for that upcoming battle.

Detroit has rattled off four straight wins in the series, including a 5-4 victory in Columbus in the only previous meeting this season Jan. 2 as an even-money underdog (+100). The Red Wings have won six of the past seven in this series, too. However, the past three wins have been by a single goal, and four of the past five in the series have been decided by one goal.

The Jackets streak in with wins over the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars since the 4 Nations Face-off break, and Columbus was a moderate underdog (+170) against Dallas on Tuesday. The Over is 2-0-1 in the past three games, with CBJ scoring 4.7 goals per game (GPG), while allowing 3.0 GPG.

The Red Wings picked up a 3-2 win in Minnesota on Tuesday, avenging a 4-3 OT loss to the Wild on Saturday in the Motor City. Since the break, Detroit is 2-0-1, while hitting the Over twice.

Based on the series trends, we'll side with Red Wings as moderate favorites, although the Blue Jackets do come in hot. And with the Over going 7-2 in the previous nine meetings in this series, let's go high on the total.

Red Wings ML (-155 at Bet365 Sportsbook)
Over 6 Goals (-120 at BetMGM)

Don't make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.

Buffalo Sabres at Carolina Hurricanes

The Sabres (24-27-5) and the Hurricanes (33-21-4) square off at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C., with a puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.

Buffalo has been a bit of a thorn in the side of Carolina in recent seasons, including the only previous meeting in the 2024-25 campaign. The Sabres posted a 4-2 win at KeyBank Center on Jan. 15 as moderate underdogs (+150) as the total (6) pushed at most shops.

The Sabres had a hat trick from the unlikeliest of sources, as Ryan McLeod opened the scoring with assists to Connor Clifton and Beck Malenstyn, and he was back with a score at 19:56 of the second period to make it 3-0. Since the game ended up 4-2, that counted as the game-winning goal. He capped off the hatty with an even-strength goal from Tage Thompson and Jason Zucker.

A lot has changed for the Canes, as Martin Necas had a goal in that game. He is now in Colorado, and Mikko Rantanen is in Carolina -- for now. The Hurricanes have a big contract extension offer out to the free-agent-to-be, but he is mulling it over, and time is running out. Reports have the Canes potentially flipping him before the NHL trade deadline if he doesn't put pen to paper by March 7, as the Canes don't want to trade the farm for a rental player after getting burned by Jake Guentzel last spring.

So, is the Rantanen situation affecting the Canes? They're just 1-5-0 in the past six games. In those five losses, Carolina's offense has cobbled together just six total goals, or 1.2 GPG. The lone win saw an offensive outburst in a 7-3 win against the Utah Hockey Club prior to the 4 Nations break.

Carolina is not looking like a championship-caliber team right now, and Buffalo is actually playing better. In fact, the Sabres pounded the New York Rangers 8-2 on Saturday, they're 2-0-0 since the break, and 6-1-0 in the past seven outings.

It's risky business taking Buffalo straight up, but if you're a little more adventurous, have at it. We'll back the Sabres on the puck line as underdogs, and based on the power outage for the Canes offense, let's go low on the total. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a goaltender a lot of casual fans don't know much about, but he has been running hot lately, too.

Sabres +1.5 (-125 at Bet365 Sportsbook)
Under 6.5 Goals (-110 at Caesars Sportsbook)

Today's Best NHL Bet(s)

On Wednesday, the Kings burned us against the Wild as rather heavy favorites. Ugh. After a nice little run, the best bet has been the worst bet lately. We'll try and recover with the Over in the Jackets-Wings game Thursday, and we'll go low on the Sabres-Canes game, too. If you can get the latter at Under 6.5, even better.