NHL Thursday best bets: Canucks to best Kings at home

Wednesday night's slate proved profitable for our best bets. While the Seattle Kraken let us down, the Montreal Canadiens and Jack Eichel pulled through to give us a 2-1 record.

Let's keep the train going as we look for the best way to attack Thursday's nine-game slate.

Devils (+240) @ Hurricanes (-300)

The Carolina Hurricanes clinched first place in the Metropolitan Division with a win over the New York Rangers last time out. Now, the Hurricanes are playing for nothing, and their lineup in this game should reflect that.

Carolina anticipates sitting Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal, and Jaccob Slavin and could pull others as well, not to mention starting goaltender Frederik Andersen - who was one of the league's best this season - remains sidelined with an injury.

Even with those absences, the Hurricanes will clearly roster a better lineup than the New Jersey Devils. The gap is not as large as it could be, though, and I expect the coaching staff to really distribute ice time as opposed to giving the big guns a full workload.

The Devils have played pretty well without key players like Jack Hughes and Jonas Siegenthaler and aren't rolling over for opponents, ranking ninth in expected goal share over the last 10 games. New Jersey just recalled top prospect Alexander Holtz from the AHL, which should give the offense a little shot in the arm.

I'm not sure the Devils get a win in this game, but I think they'll be able to hang around.

Bet: Devils +1.5 (-105)

Kings (+120) @ Canucks (-145)

I love the Vancouver Canucks in this spot. They've played very good hockey of late, going 7-2-1 over the last 10 games while sitting 14th in expected goals percentage at five-on-five.

Vancouver won't have Thatcher Demko between the pipes, which stings, but I don't think the club will need Grade A goaltending to get a win.

The Los Angeles Kings are playing their last game of the regular season and can't move up or down in the standings, which means their sole focus will be getting through 60 minutes of hockey in one piece.

The Kings rested Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, and Dustin Brown on Wednesday night, so I wouldn't be surprised if even more regulars sit this one out.

But with Cal Petersen between the pipes, that could be a problem. Petersen owns a .890 save percentage since the beginning of February and has conceded nearly 10 more goals than expected during that time. This Vancouver offense should get to him.

I know the Canucks aren't playing for anything in terms of standings, but this is their home finale, and they will no doubt have the motivation to put on a good show for their fans.

Bet: Canucks (-145)

Elias Pettersson over 2.5 shots (-114)

Elias Pettersson is on a nice little shooting run. He has registered at least three shots in nine of his last 12 games, averaging a hair under 3.7 shots during that time.

Pettersson is averaging about 1.5 more attempts per game than his season total, indicating his increase in outputs comes from more shot opportunities as opposed to just hitting the net more frequently.

While the Kings are a solid shot suppression team, they are in the latter half of a road back-to-back, playing for nothing, and should be without several key players. I like Pettersson to stay hot in this game.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.

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