NHL Thursday best bets: Predators to snap losing skid, Eichel to fire at home
Despite being undermanned on the back end, the Panthers came through for us with a first-period victory against Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, Nathan MacKinnon fell one short of hitting his over, while Sam Reinhart could only get one shot on target out of a season-high seven attempts.
We'll look to get back on track with three plays for Thursday's monster slate.
Predators (-135) @ Blue Jackets (+115)The Blue Jackets are off to a 1-3 start, and it's hard to argue it's not warranted.
With Erik Gudbranson being the lone off-season "addition" of note on defense, the Blue Jackets have predictably struggled in their own zone once again.
Columbus has conceded 17 goals through just four games and controlled a putrid 37.68% of the high-danger chances at five-on-five during that stretch.
The Blue Jackets are giving up a lot and generating little, which isn't all that surprising given they're top-heavy up front and star sniper Patrik Laine is out of the lineup.
While the Predators have dropped three games in a row since returning from overseas, the underlying numbers suggest they're a potent team.
The Predators' share of the expected goals - and high-danger chances - sits on the right side of 50%.
Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, and Co. are off to a somewhat slow start offensively, and this feels like a great matchup for them to get back on track.
Look for the Predators to snap their three-game losing skid in Columbus.
Bet: Predators (-135)
Kirill Kaprizov over 3.5 shots (+105)Death, taxes, and backing Kaprizov on home soil.
Dating back to last season, Kaprizov has tallied at least four shots on goal in 23 of his last 30 games in Minnesota for a whopping 77% success rate.
There's every reason to believe he can continue his hot streak Thursday night against the Canucks. They've played high-event games in the early going of the season and have not shown any ability to slow teams down on the power play.
Kaprizov touches the puck a ton on the man advantage - and he's Minnesota's biggest shooting threat - so he should be able to exploit Vancouver's weakness in that area.
The Canucks are also paper thin on defense. Even if there's a lot of five-on-five play, he should really be able to threaten in the offensive zone.
Jack Eichel over 3.5 shots (-105)Eichel is off to a slow start in terms of shooting the puck, having gone over this number in just one of his first four games.
The good news is Eichel does his best work on home soil, and he has an advantageous matchup to look forward to Thursday night.
The Jets are not a good defensive team. They sit bottom-10 in shot suppression at five-on-five and have been downright putrid at killing penalties.
No team has allowed shots on goal - or expected goals - at a higher rate while down a man. It just so happens Eichel leads the Golden Knights in power-play shot attempts and is the team's biggest scoring threat.
Eichel has a plus matchup at five-on-five and on the power play, and he's going up against a fatigued Jets side. All the stars are aligning for a big game from him.
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.
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