Best NHL Bets Today: Expert Picks for Wednesday, March 5

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Published on March 6, 2025

The National Hockey League has five total games on the schedule, with two nationally televised game on TNT/truTV/Max. The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers drop the puck in the first TV game at 7:30 p.m. ET, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights at 10 p.m. ET in the second end of the doubleheader. We have three games with a 10 p.m. ET or later puck drop. We're going to focus on the latter part of the schedule, giving you time to get your wagers and parlays in order. Let's get started.

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Best NHL Bets Today: Expert NHL Picks for
Wednesday, March 5

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.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Vegas Golden Knights

The Maple Leafs (38-20-3) and Golden Knights (36-18-6) meet at T-Mobile Arena at 10 p.m. ET.

Toronto was stunned 3-2 in a shootout loss against the San Jose Sharks despite being massive favorites (-290) as the Under (6.5) cashed. That snapped a five-game win streak, but the Maple Leafs had been playing with fire in recent games despite the wins. The previous three victories were one-goal games, including two in overtime.

The Leafs enter this game with four consecutive victories on the road, too, while going 7-1-0 in the past eight tries away from home.

The Golden Knights scored a 2-0 win against the New Jersey Devils behind Adin Hill, who had 25 saves. Noah Hanifin and Mark Stone provided the offense in the victory, as the Golden Knights improved to 5-1-0 in the past six outings.

The Leafs won 3-0 in the first meeting on Nov. 20 behind Joseph Woll, who made all 31 shots he faced. Hill wasn't bad, stopping 23 of 25 shots, but the offense gave him zero support. Fraser Minten notched his first NHL goal to open the scoring, and that stood up as the game-winning tally. William Nylander had a power-play goal, and Pontus Holmberg posted an empty-net goal to give the home side the win.

The home victory was a rarity in this series, as the road team had won the previous three meetings, while the road team is still 4-2-0 in the previous six in the series. The Over is 3-1 in the past four installments despite the Under result, too.

Based on the results lately, we'll back the Maple Leafs for the road win, and we'll go low on the total.

Maple Leafs ML (+126 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
Under 6.5 Goals (-125 at DraftKings Sportsbook)

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

Anaheim Ducks at Vancouver Canucks

The Ducks (27-26-7) and the Canucks (27-22-11) hook up at Rogers Arena in Vancouver for a 10:30 p.m. ET puck drop. The game can be viewed or streamed on ESPN+.

Anaheim surprised Edmonton 6-2 for a rare road rout on Tuesday, and now they face the quick turnaround. As such, John Gibson is likely to get the nod after Lukas Dostal sparkled in the victory.

The Ducks have actually been pretty competitive lately, going 9-3-1 in the past 13 games since Jan. 23, while cashing the Over in three in a row. Anaheim has picked up points in four of the past five games on the road, too, going 3-1-1 in the span. Prior to the Oilers win, though, the Ducks had played four straight one-goal road games.

These teams just met Feb. 27 in Southern California, with the Ducks winning 5-2 as a slight underdog (+100) as the Over (5.5) cashed. It started off OK for the Canucks, as Tyler Myers and Pius Suter notched back-to-back goals in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. However, Frank Vatrano, Cutter Gauthier and Ryan Strome flipped it to a 3-2 Anaheim lead after 40 minutes, and Jackson LaCombe added a late third-period insurance marker, with Troy Terry dumping in an empty-netter, making a winner of Dostal. Arturs Silovs was the victim of four goals allowed on 24 shots.

Vancouver enters with a 1-4-0 mark in the past five games, cashing the Under in seven of the past nine games.

Let's back the Ducks for the win since they've been playing much better hockey lately. They'll totally be worth a roll of the dice at a nice price. And, go high based on the trends lately.

Ducks ML (+190 at Fanatics Sportsbook)
Over 5.5 Goals (-112 at FanDuel Sportsbook)

St. Louis Blues at Los Angeles Kings

The Blues (29-27-6) and Kings (31-20-8) meet at Crypto.com Arena at 10:30 p.m. ET, and L.A. is looking to avenge a 4-1 loss in St. Louis on Saturday.

Kevin Fiala struck for a power-play goal just 3:43 into the game to make it 1-0, but Colton Parayko and Pavel Buchnevich struck for even-strength goals to make it 2-1 after 20. Zachary Bolduc made it 3-1 midway through the second, and Dylan Holloway had an insurance marker in the third, giving Jordan Binnington all the support he needed. He made 25 saves on 26 shots in the victory, the third in a row in this series for the Blues.

St. Louis fell 6-3 in Dallas the next night, but they're still a solid 5-1-1 in the past seven games, with the Over going 5-2 in that span.

Los Angeles has had a power outage on offense again, going for just six total goals (1.5 GPG) in the past four outings, while the combination of Darcy Kuemper and David Rittich has allowed 15 total goals in the past three outings, or 5.0 GPG. The Over is 7-3 in the past 10 games for the Kings, too.

Side with the Blues, and let's side with the Under, based on the inability of the Kings to score goals. Go lightly, though, as the Kings have been hemorrhaging goals on defense.