NHL Bets Today - Top Picks For April 18
Tonight is the final regulation season slate of the year in the NHL. We have six games to pick from and outside of motivational angles and milestones, only a couple of these contests really matter for playoff seeding. The Kings and Golden Knights can flip-flop in the standings if the Kings manage to finish tied or ahead of Vegas (currently Vegas has a one-point lead and they both play their final game tonight).
As we go through the day we’ll be getting more player and lineup updates with some big names likely to be ruled out. I expect Connor McDavid has a great shot at sitting for Edmonton and it’s possible the Jets and Canucks sit a lot of players too.
Going through this board isn't easy but there are some solid angles for betting we can hopefully exploit. The bets for today’s final regular season slate are below.
NHL Bets Today - April 18
Colorado Avalanche win in regulation (+105; bet365)
- Play to: -110
The Oilers sat some key players in their contest against Arizona yesterday and I expect that trend likely picks up more steam tonight as well. There has already been chatter about McDavid sitting for this final game (he was banged up towards the end of the season) and Edmonton being such a top-heavy team it would be foolish for them to risk injury to any of their stars.
Rest for the Oilers is more important than a win tonight as well. This is a team that has been in “playoff mode” for much of the season after their disastrous start and for Colorado, a win tonight would carry more importance than it would for Edmonton, whose momentum was built long ago by overcoming that early season adversity.
The Avalanche will also likely be starting rookie Justus Annunen who has been quite good for them this year in net and carries a .925 save % into this game. With the game also being Colorado, where the Avalanche are a league-best 30-9 this season, I’m surprised we’re still getting this good of a line to back the Avalanche to win in regulation.
Wild win in regulation (-110; bet365)
- Play to: -120
I’ll stick with the regulation lines and also back the Wild to come through at home with a win in their final game of the season as well. Minnesota isn't playing for anything other than pride but they have shown that they are still an interested club having grabbed some big wins of late, including a 3-1 win over the Kings in their last outing.
Minnesota has generally been a team to fade when they are up against better competition but have been trustworthy against weaker foes. They’re 8-0-2 in their last 10 games against non-playoff teams with both of those OT losses coming to the Blues (who were in the playoff hunt down the stretch).
The Kraken have been the worse team of these two pretenders for a while now and they limp in with just two wins in their last seven games – wins that came against teams with losing records. Seattle has also struggled against Minnesota of late and comes into this game on a four-game losing streak to the Wild, who are 6-2 against Seattle since they came into the league.
Line shopping here is also key. Minnesota is as low as -130 at some books already but they are still -110 at bet365. Given the lack of meaning this game has, and the fact the Wild have been so good against this level of opponent of late, that price looks more than fair to back the home team whose fans should at least provide them with some motivation today.
Matt Boldy anytime goal (+175; FanDuel)
- Play to: +165
Matt Boldy enters this game with 29 goals on the season and while chasing milestones is one reason to consider him for an anytime goal prop today, the price is also a big factor tonight. Currently, Fanduel has him listed at +175 which is considerably bigger than he is at pretty much every other sportsbook (he’s +145 for example at DraftKings). That big a spread alone is enough to pique our interest and the Kraken’s defense has faltered down the stretch as they have allowed three or more goals over their final four games.
You could certainly look to use Boldy’s anytime goal prop alongside the Wild moneyline in a same-game parlay today but as a one-off play, the +175 looks like solid value on its own. Boldly’s scored in four of his last eight games, has been shooting more down the stretch, and has scored in both games against Seattle this year.
MacKenzie Weegar 4+ SOG (+185; bet365)
MacKenzie Weegar is another player to think about milestones. He’s in a fantastic matchup against San Jose and is currently sitting at 19 goals, just one off the 20-goal mark which is huge for a defenseman.
While we could certainly look to Weegar as an anytime goal scorer (he’s as big as +330 on DraftKings) the shots on goal angle provide a little more security, with plenty of upside still attached. Much like Auston Matthews against the Lightning yesterday, Weegar should be firing shots at will tonight (and will have the chance to do that because it's the Sharks) and has cleared 4.0 shots on net in four of his last seven games – and in each of his last two games.
With his line to get 4+ shots as big as +185 (35% implied probability), I like looking to this market first, before deciding whether or not to risk a little more and chase that anytime goal upside alongside it.
Flames / Sharks same game parlay (+525; bet365)
- Flames / Sharks over 6.5
- Kadri anytime goal
- Weegar over 2.5 SOG
The Sharks are coming off a 9-2 loss to the Oilers and while they won’t face the same kind of offensive juggernaut tonight with Calgary, San Jose will again be the road where they have allowed a league-high 3.98 goals per game this year. They’ll also be facing a team in the Flames who have plenty of hungry young players and veterans currently striving to hit some milestones or career achievements.
Nazem Kadri currently sits at 29 goals and would certainly love to hit the 30-goal mark again, having not done so since 2018. While his goal prop has been bet down a bit today combining it with the over in this game, a bet I logged in our free bet tracker already, makes a ton of sense from a correlation perspective. I also included a more modest over on Weegar (over 2.5 shots on net) who I expect to be very aggressive with his shot today as he’s also going for 20 goals (as mentioned above).
Underdog NHL Pick’em (3-way; 5.74x multiplier)
Nazem Kadri HIGHER 0.5 goals
See above… solid multiplier on Kadri goal to use in a correlated pick’em today
MacKenzie Weegar HIGHER 2.5 SOG
See above … love the HIGHER on 2.5 for Weegar today even at a reduced multiplier
Devin Cooley HIGHER 3.5 goals against (Scorcher)
Cooley got torched in his last start and it’s going to be hard for him to recover in time to stop another barrage of shots tonight. While this is technically a boosted prop it’s also worth noting that the Sharks have allowed an average of 3.98 goals per game on the road. This correlates very well with our two Flames props so the fact we can still get an over 5.0x multiplier while using Cooley’s HIGHER makes this a worthy add.
