Here are my NHL Best Bets for Saturday, Jan. 20 – my expert predictions and picks.
It's another big NHL Saturday slate. The day offers a massive NHL lineup with 12 hockey games featuring 24 teams in action.
However, I'm focusing on two games and two picks, including two moneyline plays, for the daylong hockey marathon on the NHL Network and ESPN+. Both of my selections come from the evening portion of the hockey marathon.
Check out both of the picks and analysis below.
NHL Best Bets
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our NHL betting staff is targeting from today's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 7 p.m. | |
  | 10 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NHL Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Stars vs. Devils
The Dallas Stars seem to be flying a little under the radar right now as the Jets, Avalanche and Canucks' dominant play is garnering all the talk surrounding Western Conference contenders.
A huge part of their slight dip in form recently was the fact that backup Scott Wedgewood had begun to struggle in goal. He took on 11 straight starts with Jake Oettinger out due to injury.
With Oettinger back, that problem goes out the window (and if anything, we should expect Oettinger to play better down the stretch than he has thus far based upon his priors).
The absence of Miro Heiskanen from the Stars' blue line surely hurts as well. However, it's not as if Heiskanen was carrying the team's back end this season the way he has in years previous.
Thomas Harley is capable of filling some of those minutes effectively, and he was not receiving a large enough role early on.
Offensively, the Stars look downright stacked. Matt Duchene has fit in tremendously on the second line alongside Mason Marchment and Tyler Seguin. The second line's stellar form has helped cover a lesser start to the season from Jason Robertson, but the signs are there that he could have a big second half.
Dallas was completely humiliated in Philadelphia Thursday night as part of a 5-1 loss in which the Stars were completely outclassed. It seems more likely that was somewhat of an off-night for the Stars than anything else, though, and I believe they will respond in this favorable spot with a better effort.
The Stars have three well-balanced lines upfront and a quality man-advantage unit. They should be able to ask some serious questions of Nico Daws, who will be in goal for the Devils in this matchup. Daws has played well in a small sample size, but he's still unproven at the NHL level.
The Devils, meanwhile, continue to suffer through a nightmare injury situation, which has led to less convincing defensive play than we have seen throughout much of the last two seasons.
As they play in a back-to-back situation against one of the league's more proven rosters, it is hard for me to see how being only a +105 underdog makes sense. New Jersey should be a much longer underdog.
Pick: Stars ML (-125 at DraftKings)
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Penguins vs. Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights' play has dropped off considerably since their incredible run to start the season.
The Knights have won just five of their last 13 games, and this lowly run of play hasn't been just some bad luck in front of goal either. They have played to an xGF% of only 46.97 and are allowing the fourth most shots against in the league at 33.33.
Vegas does have a valid excuse for the team's drop-off in form; numerous top players have been out of the lineup. With Jack Eichel joining Shea Theodore, William Karlsson, William Carrier, Michael Amadio and Adin Hill on the sidelines, the Knights' current injury is situation is even worse than it has been for most of this skid.
Take away the top two centers, top defender and No. 1 goaltender from any team, and it probably won't look too imposing. Credit to the Knights for stopping the bleeding with consecutive wins over the Predators and Rangers to start the week, but neither win was overly impressive.
In both games, the Knights easily could've trailed early, but they managed to avoid going in a hole before capitalizing on some of their first legitimate chances. The Predators game, in particular, was nothing that should change our minds about where the Knights are currently at, and even the Rangers game likely would have gone differently if Igor Shesterkin had not let in a pair of softies to blow up the game.
The Penguins, meanwhile, are a side that is playing much better than their season-long record suggests. Over the last month, they own a 8-2-3 record with a league-leading 61.32% expected goal rating. Analytics aside, it is clear to see that the Penguins are now playing to their high potential offensively.
At the time of writing, the Pens' are still priced as a slight underdog at -105 on DraftKings. It's very hard for me to arrive at that number, and I do not expect it to hold. But anything better than -120 is a play for me on this matchup.
Pick: Penguins ML (-105 at DraftKings)
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