Flip Livingstone's Picks

The battle for Lord Stanley's mug is now officially less than one month away from popping off, which means we are running out of Saturdays to stack up this NHL money.

Actually, quick sidebar thought: we are entering one of the best stretches of the gambling calendar in North American professional sports. Having your betting bankroll in order at this time of year can obviously be key when diving into such amazing events as The Masters, the start of the MLB season, March Madness, the NBA playoffs, and of course, the aforementioned push for the Cup.

A total of 13 games are on tap today with have a number of them featuring major playoff implications, including some standouts between the Seattle Kraken and Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers, and even a bit of a wild-card showdown in the west as the Winnipeg Jets visit Smashville to battle it out with the Predators. Some great opportunities on the board today, let's dive in and get this loot. Good luck!

2022-23 Saturday Record Breakdown (Complete Daily Record Tracked/Posted @Flips_Picks)

Gold: 8-3
Silver: 6-5
Bronze: 7-4
Side bets: 20-11-2

Total Saturday Record: 41-23-2

Gold Selection

Sidney Crosby Anytime Assist (-125)

With so many amazing individual offensive performances from the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov, and others already this season, it's no wonder that seemingly less attention than ever is being paid to one of the best players to ever touch the ice in Sidney Crosby. The window for winning is shrinking rapidly in Pittsburgh, and with the Penguins on the Eastern Conference wild-card bubble, No. 87 once again has risen to the occasion by putting his team on his back and playing some of the best hockey I've seen from Sid over the past number of seasons.

Over his last 16 games Crosby has put up five goals, 16 assists, 13 even-strength points, nearly 60 shots, and two game-winning goals. Sid is not only red-hot of late he's also on fire against this New York Rangers team to the tune of four assists over his last two games and over the course of his NHL regular-season career has absolutely owned the Blueshirts, registering a downright impressive 38 goals and 66 assists for 104 points in only 81 games. I don't think you need to hear much more from me on this one to really get behind the Crosby anytime assist on one of the biggest stages in hockey with playoff implications looming large. We know this man steps in the clutch and when the stakes are highest and I expect another great performance from one of the game’s all-time greats.

For whatever reason Vegas is giving us really fair odds here at -125, and considering Crosby has two assists in each of his last two meetings against New York just over the past week alone makes me love this bet even more. Let's hammer this Sid anytime apple in the Big Apple for my Gold Pick of the evening. 

Silver Selection

Auston Matthews Anytime Goal (-120)

If you've been following along with Matthews' season so far this year, you will have noticed by now that he hasn't really looked the same in comparison to last campaign's Hart-Trophy-caliber quality. However, in the same vein, if you've been following Matthews of late you've likely also observed a player really starting to hit his stride, a level of play that propelled him to one of the best individual seasons in Maple Leafs history and 60 goals just a year ago. Of course, No. 34 is not going to replicate that number this season, but he's really starting to cook right now and the proof is in the pudding.

Not only is Matthews scoring again with four goals and three assists in his last five contests, he's starting to show significant signs of getting his confidence back and that shows in his ability to play at both ends of the ice, using his large frame to dominate puck possession and get his elite shot off and on target. Matthews has 39 shots over his last seven games while putting up eight points – this is bad news for goalies in the east down the stretch and great news for Leafs and for us bettors about to invest in one of deadliest pure scorers we've seen in a while.

The Leafs roll into Ottawa tonight for the Battle of Ontario playing some really good hockey, and on the other hand you have the reeling Senators fighting for their playoff lives. Ottawa has lost four in a row and will be a desperate club against its provincial rival, but this is still a good spot for Matthews, who, much like Crosby versus the Rangers in my breakdown above, owns sensational numbers in his career against Ottawa. Actually, at a deeper look, Matthews has more goals and points against the Sens than any other team during his NHL tenure, posting 23 goals and 18 assists in 27 games.

Let's go back to the well with another bet on an Auston Matthews anytime goal, good for my Silver selection of the night.

Bronze Selection

New York Islanders @ San Jose Sharks – Pick: UNDER 6.5 (-155)

This is one of the games on the board that seemed almost too good to be sure, and at first glance I really wanted to lay a big bet on the Islanders on the moneyline – but I quickly changed my mind.

First of all, the odds really were not great and secondly, while the Sharks have lost nine of their last 10 games, their last two have been well-fought, close one-goal games that could've gone in their favor. So I took a bit of a different angle for this situation and the one narrative that kept popping up was this really feels like one for a low-scoring result.

Five of the last six games between San Jose and New York have stayed UNDER the total, and with both teams sitting in the bottom 10 in overall scoring this season, I feel comfortable running with the UNDER here. The Sharks are really struggling to score over this horrid 10-game stretch and with one of my favorite netminders in the game in the cage for the Isles in Ilya Sorokin (2-0-0 record, .921 save percentage, and 2.27 goals-against average in his career against the sharks), it could be a very long night for San Jose's forwards.

I want to keep this one very simple while short-and-sweet but I did want to mention that most books will have this at an even total of six, which also indicates where Vegas is expecting this one to finish. So I like teasing that up to six-and-a-half for slightly lower odds.

Side Bets

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators – Pick: Maple Leafs ML

Dallas Stars @ Calgary Flames – Pick: UNDER 6 (-105)

Vancouver Canucks @ L.A. Kings – Pick: Canucks ML (+155)

Flip Livingstone is an NHL betting and fantasy hockey writer and podcast host with past experience at outlets such as theScore NHL, Narcity Media, Postmedia, and Hockey Night in Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @Flips_Picks.

Brad Hayward’s picks are below.

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Brad Hayward's Picks

I hope everyone had a safe St. Patrick's celebration, Irish or not. I've avoided the parades for years, but Pittsburgh surprised me by having festivities last Saturday – thus two days for the bars to open at sunrise (ok, maybe not quite). In the world of fantasy hockey, this is probably the weekend that your team's playoffs become very tight – good luck (of those same Irish?) to all.  

Season Stats

Gold, 7-4-0

Silver, 4-6-1

Bronze, 6-5-0

Side bets 19-11-0

Gold Selection

Vancouver Canucks @ Los Angeles Kings – Pick: Kings to cover -1.5 goals (+135)

If ever there was a team peaking in March, it's the Kings. They are 8-1-1 over there last ten games, and have won by 2+ goals in their last five victories.

Joonas Korpisalo (3-0-0, 2.00 GAA, 0.929 SV% since his arrival) and Pheonix Copley have looked like that ideal 1A/1B combination, an intriguing pair of goaltenders largely discarded by their previous owners.  But Los Angeles also has offense. Adrian Kempe launching 3.5 SOG/GP in those past ten, Viktor Arvidsson more – 5.2 over his last eight, and Drew Doughty has awakened, scoring in consecutive matches. The Kings play Vancouver three times in their final 13 games and my Gold play is that an exclamation mark is put on this one. 

Silver Selection

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators – Pick:  Jakob Chychrun over 2.5 SOG (-155)

Just briefly imagine the Ottawa Senators winning the 2023 draft lottery either for Connor Bedard or Adam Fantilli. These are unpredictable ping pong balls, after all. But the Senators have already amassed young talent enough to be a contender in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24, and certainly for the future.  Their most recent splash, at the trade deadline, was Chychrun.  As a Thomas Chabot owner in two leagues, I'm very concerned about first power-play deployment next season – for now, the Sens seem to be auditioning those two players and also Jake Sanderson (rostered in only 27% of Yahoo leagues).   Chychrun has had three or more shots in five of his last six games, and the Maple Leafs, on a B2B, are starting the shaky Matt Murray, sporting an 0.848 sv% since returning from one of his many injuries.   My Silver coaching plan would surely be to put pucks aplenty onto his net.

Bronze Selection

New York Islanders @ San Jose Sharks – Pick: Islanders to win (-170 ML)

Absolutely, the Islanders will be scoreboard watching earlier in the day, but their opportunities to take an unnecessary and unexpected loss are very quickly running out. Florida is 4-0-1 in their past five contests, and only three points behind and two games in hand. My advanced math skills tell me this game is important. Ilya Sorokin has had two days rest since his back-to-back starts in southern California, and will likely take the net again. The Sharks, as I update from my Thursday article, have now won once in their last eleven games. San Jose was the first team mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it only SEEMS like that was back at the Christmas break. Add to my Bronze pick by playing

Side Bets

New York Islanders @ San Jose Sharks: Under 6.0 goals scored  

Barrett Hayton, goalscorer vs. Chicago (+195)

Matthew Tkachuk, goalscorer vs. New Jersey (+110)

Brad Hayward writes a weekly DFS column for Dobber hockey, and is a recently-retired surgeon.   Message him @dokhockey.