It’s another four-game slate on the ice tonight, and there’s a trio of teams looking to even their respective series to avoid returning home in a 0-2 hole.
The action starts with the New Jersey Devils facing the Carolina Hurricanes, and wraps up with the nightcap between the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights.
Here are my top NHL picks for Tuesday, April 22.
Today's best NHL Playoffs parlay: April 22
Hurricanes -1.5
Senators/Maple Leafs Under 6.5
Lightning moneyline
Pick #1: Hurricanes -1.5
Not only did the Carolina Hurricanes roll the New Jersey Devils in Game 1, but the Devils are going to be missing top-four defensemen Luke Hughes (upper body) and Brenden Dillon (lower body) tonight.
New Jersey is now sporting a mediocre 9-11-1 record since Jack Hughes (shoulder) was injured in early March. Carolina also dominated at the Lenovo Center with a 31-9-1 home record during the regular season, and the Hurricanes don’t have any notable injuries.
Pick #2: Senators-Maple Leafs Under 6.5
The Toronto Maple Leafs scored three power-play goals in Game 1, and Ottawa Senators starter Linus Ullmark only stopped 18 of 24 shots. His average goal distance was also 24 feet, so Ullmark should be better tonight.
Ottawa is unlikely to be shorthanded for 7:33 again tonight, so I’m also expecting more of the game to be played at five-on-five and help this total go Under the number. There were only 3.81 expected goals at 5-on-5 in Game 1, after all.
Meanwhile, Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz led the NHL in SV% and goals saved above average per 60 minutes during the regular season, then followed it up by stopping 31 of 33 shots in the series opener on Sunday.
Pick #3: Lightning moneyline
The Tampa Bay Lightning are another excellent team on home ice (29-8-4), while the Florida Panthers travel poorly (20-19-2).
Andre Vasilevskiy has been playing at a Vezina level, going 7-2-2 to finish the regular season while posting an elite .933 SV% and 1.71 GAA. Tampa Bay also entered the playoffs scoring the most goals per game (3.56) and ranked fifth with a 25.9 power-play percentage.
It’s a lot for Florida to deal with, and the Panthers also crawled into the postseason with a 3-6-1 record while scoring just 2.0 goals per game. Although the Cats rested players and were looking ahead the entire time, they don’t boast the same momentum as the Bolts.
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