NHL Best Bets Today: Expert Picks for Saturday, November 16

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Published on November 16, 2024

NHL Best Bets Tonight: Expert NHL Picks for
Saturday, Nov. 16

The National Hockey League has 12 games on the schedule for Saturday night, including three games featured on NHL Network, with the slate kicking off at 1 p.m. ET. We're going to avoid the early afternoon and early evening games and give you some choices on the late evening slate.

Perhaps if things aren't going your way on the college football or college basketball slate early in the day, we'll be able to help you chase and make some lettuce. The action should be a lot more entertaining than that farce which was Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, so there's that. You should be able to watch the games without your TV freezing up. Let's get started.

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Best NHL Picks Tonight

Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild

The Stars (10-5-0) and Wild (11-2-3) might be one of the best NHL games on the slate Saturday night, and it's always exciting when the Stars' franchise returns to the Twin Cities.

Dallas has dominated this series lately, sweeping the three-game regular-season series in 2023-24, while taking six games in a playoff series in the first round in April 2023. Since Game 4 of their first-round series in 2023, Dallas has won six in a row against Minnesota, outscoring the Wild 19-5 in three games last season and 30-8 in the six-game win streak.

Minnesota is coming off a 3-0 shutout loss against the Montreal Canadiens behind Filip Gustavsson last time out, but facing the Stars is a whole different animal. Let's roll with Dallas to get the job done as moderate favorites.

Stars ML (-140 at Caesars Sportsbook)

Detroit Red Wings at Los Angeles Kings

The Red Wings (7-8-1) slink into Crypto.com Arena against the Kings (9-6-3) with three losses in their past four games, including a 6-4 loss against the Anaheim Ducks as moderate favorites on Friday night.

Now, the Red Wings face a back-to-back set. The last time the Red Wings played on no rest they were hammered 4-0 by the New York Rangers last Saturday. Before that, Detroit was tripped up 3-2 in overtime by the Edmonton Oilers.

For the Kings, they've struggled with just a single win in the past four games, while having a power outage on offense. However, at home, they're a respectable 4-1-1 this season, including a 5-2 win in their most recent skate in SoCal last Saturday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Kings have played a lot of close games lately. It's too expensive to play L.A. straight up on the Moneyline. Let's back the Red Wings as the underdogs on the puck line for a better value, while going low on the total.

Red Wings +1.5 (-140 at Caesars Sportsbook)
Under 6.5 Goals (-132 at FanDuel Sportsbook)

Chicago Blackhawks at Vancouver Canucks

In the final game of the evening, the Blackhawks (6-10-1) and Canucks (8-4-3) tangle in the Pacific Northwest.

Vancouver has cruised to eight consecutive victories in this series dating back to January 31st, 2022. Chicago's last win at Rogers Arena was a 1-0 victory on November 21, 2021, in a shutout win behind Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Blackhawks are likely to have to contend with their former goaltender, Kevin Lankinen, who has found a home in B.C. He is 8-2-2 with a 2.60 GAA and a .907 save percentage with a shutout. He has been a godsend for a team making its way without injured All-Star Thatcher Demko, especially since Arturs Silovs has been unable to recapture his postseason magic.

The Canucks are a strong play on the puck line, as betting the Moneyline is too much risk for not enough reward. Vancouver has outscored Chicago 31-13 in the eight-game series win streak. The Blackhawks are showing no signs of turning that around.