Coyotes vs. Canucks Odds
| Coyotes Odds | +210 |
| Canucks Odds | -260 |
| Over / Under | 6.5 +105 / -125 |
Here's everything you need to know about the Coyotes vs Canucks on Wednesday, April 10 – our expert NHL prediction and pick.
With just four games to go, the Canucks are in firm control in the race for first in the Pacific Division. A 4-0 run would lock things up officially, but a 3-1 run would almost likely be enough to garner their first division win since the 2012-13 season.
The Canucks are heavy favorites to collect two important points tonight over an Arizona side that arrived in Vancouver late last night after a 4-0 loss to the Kraken. The Coyotes have struggled away from Mullett Arena this season (12-25-5).
Arizona Coyotes
The Coyotes have quietly bounced back with a better run of play in the seasons's final quarter. They're 10-9-0 since the start of March and have come alive offensively with 3.63 goals for per game in that span.
Andre Tourigny's team is still showing some meaningful fight. The Coyotes have improved offensive upside with Clayton Keller playing at an elite level and youngsters — such as Dylan Guenther — garnering more minutes.
Scoring on 12.2% of their shots over the last 19 games has helped them cover some meaningful flaws in other areas, though.
Still, the Coyotes have allowed 3.62 xGA/60 in those 19 matchups, which is the sixth-worst mark in the league.
Goaltending has still been an issue, as Connor Ingram and Karel Vejmelka have combined to stop just .887% of shots faced in that span.
Ingram is the better of the two by a wide margin and is expected to start tonight after resting last night versus Seattle. He's played to a +10.1 GSAx and a .909 save percentage across 47 games played this season.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks did well to shut up some observers — like myself — in Tuesday's win, which altogether must be viewed as a highly positive performance.
They fell behind by two early in part because of some shaky goaltending from third-stringer Arturs Silovs, but they dug in for an impressive comeback against a Knights team that's displayed elite form of late.
Vancouver had been in a dreadful stretch of results versus playoff-bound teams prior to that game, so that performance should quell those concerns for the time being.
One thing Rick Tocchet's crew has done exceptionally well down the stretch is dominate non-playoff teams. The Canucks are undefeated in their last six matchups against non-playoff teams and have won all of those matchups in regulation.
The Canucks have played to a 56.35% expected goal share over their last 10 games, which is the fourth-best mark in the league.
Tocchet has continually shuffled his offensive units, with a large priority being compiling a unit to help Elias Pettersson find improved productivity.
Pettersson, Nils Hoglander and Brock Boeser have played together at even strength recently and have been finding success. In 71.9 minutes together, the trio owns 64.9% of the expected goals and has generated 4.01 xGoals per 60.
Vezina candidate Thatcher Demko is set to miss a 13th straight game tonight, but it seems probable that he'll return prior to the start of the postseason.
Casey DeSmith is expected to start in goal for the Canucks, though it wouldn't be shocking if it's Silovs. The final decision holds little handicapping merit. DeSmith has played to a -3.4 GSAx and a .891 save percentage across 28 appearances.
Coyotes vs. Canucks
Betting Pick & Prediction
This is an excellent spot for the Canucks to continue wrapping up the division crown. While they've shown some flaws lately in goal and in matchups versus elite teams, they've still played softer opponents effectively.
The matchup between these teams on April 3 was competitive, but it was the Coyotes who enjoyed home ice advantage and were catching the Canucks on a back-to-back. And even though it finished as a 2-1 final in favor of the Canucks, Vancouver dominated play.
This looks like a good spot to target the Canucks as a massive favorite, as I think Tocchet's crew will be in top form tonight. Even at -265, I believe the Canucks are too short, and I see value backing that price, or betting the spread (-1.5) down to bet365's current number of +100.
Hoglander has played well alongside Pettersson on the top line of late, and the Coyotes provide a better than average target for that line to dominate. Hoglander put up four shots versus Arizona last week and has 19 shot attempts over the last five games.
He's playing on the top line with Pettersson for a reason, and it's not to distribute. So, there's also value backing Hoglander to record over 2.5 shots on goal at +182, or if you wanted to take a safer route, playing two shots at -176 is another strong option.
