We're back off IR and ready to ride for a super Saturday teeming with winners. We're diving into today's 14-game board after two tough weeks of picks, leaving our record on the year barely above the .500 mark with plenty of room to improve and a number of juicy matchups on the board. With the Four Nations break looming and the NHL's trade deadline on the horizon, the next couple weeks of hockey handicapping could be very difficult to dictate, so be wary of how heavily you're investing.

With that said, however, we've got our three favourite NHL picks broken down below followed up by our top-three side bets that are worth a sprinkle. Good luck and let's get this paper.

Complete 2024-25 Saturday Record (Daily Record Tracked/Posted @Flips_Picks):
Gold: 7-7
Silver: 8-6
Bronze: 6-8
Side Bets (Located at Bottom of Article): 24-16
2024-25 Combined Saturday Record: 45-38

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Gold Selection
New York Rangers @ Columbus Blue Jackets – Pick: Rangers ML (-164)

Despite a tough one-goal loss in their last outing to a rag-tag Pittsburgh Penguins and that they still have a five-point deficit for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, things are starting to point in the right direction for a Rangers group that is just far too balanced to have played this poorly so far this season. Sprinkle in an absolute stud up the middle with J.T. Miller back in the fold and all of a sudden, New York is once again a team posed to make some noise in the Metro Division despite a nightmare start. One player and a couple of decent performances won't hang a banner in the MSG rafters, but a gamer like Miller who has quickly fit back in seamlessly on the Rangers top line could be a game-changer down the stretch. Case in point: Take a look at how Mika Zibanejad has been producing since Miller's return, and there's sure to be a trickle-down effect for this offense across the top-six.

The Blueshirts have dominated the Blue Jackets over the past 120 minutes of hockey, holding a pretty good Columbus crew to only one goal over that span and we expect that trend to continue tonight in Cannon Country despite the overall success CBJ has tasted this campaign. The Jackets definitely deserve some love as a much-improved team, one that's teeming with up-and-coming offensive-minded pieces that's pushed Columbus to score the fourth-most goals in the Eastern Conference this season. However, a big part of that was Russian sniper and criminally underrated shooter Kirill Marchenko, who is now out for the foreseeable future with a busted jaw, so the key injuries to top-six pieces are going to catch up with Columbus sooner than later. We're leaning heavy to the sooner side of things and riding with the Rangers here on the road on the moneyline for our gold play of the evening.

Silver Selection
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Vancouver Canucks – Pick: William Nylander Anytime Goal

So we've definitely learned our lesson with betting against this pesky Canucks team over the past month, so we're switching up the tactics a little bit and rocking with the hottest shooter in the NHL right now in William Nylander. As much as we're backing off bets against Vancouver, we won't back off our claim about the Canucks being a seriously overachieving group that should consider themselves lucky to remain clinging to the second and final Western Conference wild-card spot. Injuries, off-ice chaos, and a lack of secondary scoring punch are just a few of the woes that have plagued Vancouver so far and make them an excellent team to run an anytime goal bet against. Especially with Willy, who is clearly cooking of late, as Nylander has lit the lamp five times in his last three games while taking his goal total on the year to an impressive 33 in 54 games.

Toronto will be looking to wrap up its four-game west coast road trip with a fourth consecutive win and confidence is clearly flowing through Craig Berube's bunch right now, one that is also getting healthy with the return of Anthony Stolarz and others. We'd lean to the Buds on the moneyline here as well, but our favourite play is Willy to find the back of the net once again and improve on his 18 points in 24 career regular-season games against the Canucks.

Bronze Selection
Chicago Blackhawks @ St. Louis Blues – Pick: Connor Bedard Anytime Assist (+128)

Don't look now, but the Chicago Blackhawks are actually playing pretty solid hockey of late. Okay, points in seven of their last 10 games might be using the term "solid" somewhat loosely, but the main betting angle to be had with this Chicago club right now with its somewhat improved play is that there seems to be a fire relit in the belly of the face of the franchise Connor Bedard. Callouts in the media, an extremely mediocre supporting cast of players around him, and inconsistent offensive production have all led to a frustrating few weeks for the 19-year-old phenom. However, it should be noted Bedard is still rocking with 48 points in 54 games this campaign, on pace for a pretty solid sophomore season of 73. He's putting up points once again of late – despite a serious lack of talent around him.

A very favourable opponent in the Blues and a player in Bedard who is clearly feeling it once again in the offensive zone with three goals and four assists over his last seven have us feeling comfortable backing him in this spot against an extremely average Blues side. Bedard has only one goal and an assist to his name in five career regular-season games against St. Louis, but he's got his mojo back and with confidence will come more production, starting tonight with at least one assist.

Side Bets
Vancouver Canucks @ Toronto Maple Leafs – Pick: Maple Leafs ML (-137)
Buffalo Sabres @ Nashville Predators – Pick: Over 5.5 (-180)
Pittsburgh Penguins @ Philadelphia Flyers – Pick: Flyers ML (-160)

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