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We split our best bets on Tuesday night. The Avalanche took care of business within 60 minutes, but the Maple Leafs were unable to overcome a slow start against the Flyers.
Let's take a look at the best ways to attack Wednesday's card as we set our sights on a mini-sweep.
Maple Leafs (-135) @ Capitals (+115)
Playing the under in a game featuring the best goal-scorer in the league (Auston Matthews) and arguably the best goal-scorer of all time (Alex Ovechkin) isn't appealing on the surface, but I see value in doing so.
The Maple Leafs continue to be without one of their best weapons in Mitch Marner and are in the latter half of a back-to-back.
They haven't fared well offensively in those situations over the past few months. In the second game of back-to-backs since the holiday break, they've scored one, two, two, and seven goals while consistently generating fewer shots than the game before.
Outside of the Vegas game, where the Golden Knights couldn't get a save and were playing without a handful of key players, we haven't seen a ton of life in Toronto's offense.
I don't see that changing against a red-hot Charlie Lindgren. He's conceded only eight goals over his past six starts, five of which featured six total goals or fewer.
He's quietly played well all season, and his game has clearly hit another level of late.
On the flip side of things, the Capitals rank 29th in goals per game and don't have much in the way of high-end talent.
They win a lot of low-scoring affairs, and I expect them to be more than comfortable grinding it out against a team that should show some fatigue as the game wears on.
Bet: Under 6.5 (-125)
Wild (+130) @ Kings (-155)
If you hate goals, you've come to the right place, because this is another game where there's value on the under.
The Kings are under machines. They've played to the under in five of the last six games, with Tuesday's win over the Blackhawks serving as the lone exception. Los Angeles played a low-event game and didn't generate a whole lot offensively. The Kings managed to score six on 24 shots, good for an absurd 25% clip.
The story is the same for the Wild. They've played to the under in five of the last six, with a game against the high-paced Predators being the exception in that span.
Both teams play slow, ranking near the bottom of the league in five-on-five pace (attempts generated plus allowed per minute) over the last 10 games.
They're also excellent defensive sides. The Kings have conceded just 15.78 expected goals at five-on-five over the last 10 games, which is the best mark in the NHL.
Right on their heels are the Wild, who've allowed 16.16 over the same period of time.
In short, these are two slow teams playing extremely stingy defensive hockey. Given the success they're having while doing so (Minnesota is 6-2-2 over the last 10, while the Kings are 6-3-1), I don't see any reason to expect them to get away from that - especially given each side is playing for the second time in as many nights.
Bet: Under 5.5 (+100)
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.
