3 NHL Totals to Bet Monday On The Ice
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Six NHL games are scheduled to take place on the ice Monday night. Normally, there are a few bets we'd recommend in regards to who will win. But for Monday, we're looking at the goal totals for certain games and hitting the over/under. Here are three goal totals to bet Monday on ice in the NHL.
Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild - Over
The Golden Knights and Wild have only faced off two times this season, both of which came just last week, with Vegas winning both with five-goal efforts. For Monday's meeting in Saint Paul, Minn., look for the goals to fly once again. Vegas is on a roll heading into Monday night, winning six in a row. In those games, the fewest number of goals the Golden Knights scored was three, with half of the wins coming when they scored five times.
For the year, Vegas is averaging 3.33 goals per game, tied for sixth in the NHL, while having a shooting percentage inside the top five. Meanwhile, Minnesota has dropped three of its last four, which includes a pair to the Knights, giving up five goals in each loss. However, the Wild scored five goals in their win on Friday against Arizona and aren't too far removed from their back-to-back six-goal efforts during their own six-game winning streak. Although the Wild have the league's worst power play, they're still 12th in the league with 3.14 goals allowed on just under 31 shots, thanks to their great play at even strength. In the first meeting between these teams, both the Wild and Golden Knights got 30 shots on goal, with Vegas coming close to 40, in a 5-4 game that needed overtime to decide.
The second game was a more lopsided 5-1 victory for Vegas, even though Minnesota got 37 shots on goal. Based on those two games, it seems only elite goaltending can get in the way of these teams putting some pucks in the net.
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Montreal Canadiens at Vancouver Canucks - Over
If you are one to look at a lot of matchup history before placing your bets, look no further than the Canadiens and Canucks. Because as we've seen numerous times already this year, fireworks are likely to happen when these teams go head-to-head. Between Jan. 20 and Feb. 2, these teams played each other five times. The total number of goals scored in those games was as follows: 11, 10, seven, eight, and eight. Every game had lots of offense, in both arenas, with Montreal winning the last four games after Vancouver took the first game in a shootout. Entering Monday, the Canadiens are fresh off a 7-1 win over the Jets, just their second win since Valentine's Day. Overall, Montreal still averages the third-most goals per game, 3.39, on over 33.5 shots.
A big reason the Canadiens have had so much success against Vancouver is that the Canucks allow the fourth-most goals with 3.32, on the second-most shots with 33. The Canucks are playing okay of late, though. Vancouver has won three of its last four, scoring four times in two of those victories. While the Canucks still rank just 19th with 2.86 goals per game, they're still inside the top 10 with over 31 shots on net. They can definitely take advantage of a Montreal team that does well defensively at even strength but struggles on the penalty kill, thanks to the third-most time spent in the box. With five games showing how these teams can put up the goals, particularly the Canadiens, bet the over for Monday night.
Los Angeles Kings at Anaheim Ducks - Under
The "Freeway Faceoff" returns Monday when the Kings and Ducks meet in Anaheim, just the second time these rivals have played each other in 2021. However, don't expect there to be much goal-scoring action. These are two of the weaker offenses in hockey, particularly the Ducks. Anaheim averages the second-fewest goals per game with 2.16, doing so with the third-fewest shots with 27.4 and a 28th-ranked power play. The Ducks did manage to score five times on Saturday in a win against the Avalanche to snap their nine-game losing streak, the most goals they've scored in a win all season.
The Kings, meanwhile, fare a little better, averaging 2.91 goals per game to rank 17th in the NHL. They are doing so with just 29 shots, which sits 22nd in the league, with most of their success coming from their eighth-ranked power play. Los Angeles is also coming off a comeback win, a 4-3 overtime effort against the Blues, which snapped its own four-game losing streak as well. However, don't expect these teams fresh-off wins to explode on offense. These are two of the fewest-penalized teams in hockey, so power play opportunities will be few and far between.
There is always a level of physicality between these two rivals that can make goals hard to come by. Look for the Kings and Ducks to slug it out in another low-scoring game on Monday.
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NHL Betting Tips
Hockey is one of the tougher sports to bet on, mainly because people get roped into betting on a team to win by 2 goals. The need for an empty-net goal always plays into the minds of sports bettors. The win by -1.5 goals bet is standard in hockey. If you were tempted to parlay both these games at -1.5 goals the Parlay would be +510. Check out DraftKings Sportsbook Review for more info on this subject.
