Another wild week of NHL news, injuries, and action is nearly in the books. Before that, we have what should be another jam-packed Saturday of hockey bets and breakdowns to take in. With a string of injuries across the league to some top goalies in the likes of Cam Talbot, Frederik Andersen, and Tristan Jarry over the last 10 days or so there will likely be a number of teams getting creative with their situation in the blue paint.

That means you have to be even more careful than usual when looking into these matchups and lines before placing your wagers. A total of 11 games on the NHL betting board today, so let's tap in and make a little bit of loot, shall we? Good luck.

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Flip Livingstone's Picks

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

Gold: 3-3
Silver: 3-3
Bronze: 4-2
Side bets: 13-3-2

Total Saturday Record: 23-11-2

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Gold Selection

Vegas Golden Knights @ New York Islanders – Pick: UNDER 6 (-110)

If you've been following along with my picks this season, not just on Saturday's but through the week as well, you've likely already noticed the main way I've been making any money this season has been through my OVER/UNDER selections. Let's stay hot with the total picks with the Golden Knights on the road on Long Island to face the sputtering Islanders. In my opinion, this is a toss-up-type game that I actually think both teams have a good shot at winning, but I am very much feeling this spot for a low-scoring matchup. Here's why.

First of all, neither of these teams jump off the page in terms of their offensive metrics, as both the Knights and Isles sit outside the top-13 teams in the NHL in overall scoring and both are also really struggling to score over the past week and change. A quick dive into the recent head-to-head meetings also points toward this one staying UNDER the number, as the total stayed UNDER in six of Vegas' last seven overall and seven-straight games away from home.

As for the struggling Islanders, same kind of thing. The score has stayed UNDER the total in eight of New York's last 11 contests overall and in six of their previous eight games at home. I am keeping this one very simple and following the trends and what I have seen on the ice from both the Knights and Isles. Let's hammer this one to go UNDER for my Gold Pick of the night.

Silver Selection

Drake Batherson Anytime Assist (+105)

On a team so loaded with elite top-six talent, it's a bit head-scratching that the Ottawa Senators have been so bad this season – especially offensively. However, a big-time six-goal outburst and victory over rival Toronto on Friday should have this group energized on the second night of a back-to-back. Speaking of that top-six, in my opinion the guy that gets overlooked the most and does not get nearly enough credit is the sneaky-good Batherson.

Sure, you might say that given his current third-line deployment with the likes of Shane Pinto and Derick Brassard that Batherson might not exactly be in the most opportune spot to put up points, in this case assists, but this is a very talented player who gets the benefit of playing on the top power-play unit alongside Alex DeBrincat, Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, and Thomas Chabot. That is a scary-good PP1 unit and one that has produced this season, so far to the tune of 26.2%, good enough for the fourth-best power-play in the NHL.

Enter the Montreal Canadiens, the most penalized team in the league at over 12 minutes per game and the group that has the fourth-worst penalty kill. This is shaping up to be the perfect kind of situation for the Sens to kick-start a little run and dominate the lowly Habs on special teams. How about Batherson in his career versus the Canadiens? Try eight goals and nine assists in 18 career regular-season games – that's more points and assists against Montreal than any other franchise Batherson has faced in his young career.

Drizzy Drake and the Senators have another big night, but Batherson’s anytime assist is my Silver play of the evening.

Bronze Selection

L.A. Kings @ Tampa Bay Lightning – Pick: Lightning ML (-200)

Sometimes when digging into the numbers and recent trends for a matchup my gut feeling and initial instinct goes completely against what the stats are telling me – that isn't the case for this meeting between the Kings and Lightning. At first glance I was leaning the Lightning, and to the OVER which makes my side bets board below, with the recent numbers between these two clubs also favoring a Bolts victory here.

Not only have the Lightning looked a lot better over the past handful of weeks when compared to the slow start they had to open the 2022-23 NHL season (which a 7-2 record over their previous nine games would indicate), Tampa also absolutely owns the Kings over the past few seasons, especially in South Florida. Jon Cooper's crew flaunts a sexy 9-1 record in their past 10 games against L.A. and have six-straight victories when the Kings visit Amalie Arena. Oh, almost forgot, the Lightning have 10-straight home wins overall and are currently rounding into the postseason-like form that's brought this team to three consecutive Stanley Cup finals. Shoutout to the play of Andrei Vasilevskiy who has looked so much better over the past six weeks.

As for this Kings group, last night's victory over the Florida Panthers puts them atop the Pacific Division with 62 points ahead of the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights by a single point. However, while L.A. did squeak out the W on Friday, Pheonix Copley manned the blue paint, which likely means struggling veteran Jonathan Quick and his 3.34 goals-against average and .884 save percentage will be between the pipes tonight. Quick has four losses in his last four starts and is beginning to look like a shell of his former Conn Smythe and Cup-winning self. Factor in a couple of injuries up front to key forwards like Trevor Moore, Arthur Kaliyev, and Gabe Vilardi, and this is a great spot for the Lightning to pick up the two points.

The odds here for the Bolts on the moneyline is not worth it, so make sure you parlay this pick with something else or even consider the puckline.

Side Bets

L.A. Kings @ Tampa Bay Lightning – Pick: OVER 6 (-121)

Buffalo Sabres @ Minnesota Wild – Pick: Wild ML (-174)

Ottawa Senators @ Montreal Canadiens – Pick: OVER 6.5 (+109)

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.

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Brad Hayward's Picks

Season Record

… improved to 19-13-1 last Saturday, with a 5-1 effort, including three goal scorer bets. 

Gold:  5-1-0

Silver:  1-4-1

Bronze:  3-3-0

Side bets:  10-5

Gold Selection

San Jose Sharks @ Pittsburgh Penguins – Pick – Penguins over Sharks (-255 ML)

One of Sidney Crosby's favorite go-to lines is "desperation." The Penguins need this game. The Sharks are coming off a late game collapse last night against Carolina, losing in overtime. Not having Tristan Jarry means the Pens will need to outscore their mistakes, so Side bet #1 is to take the Over 6.5 goals (-115).  

Silver Selection

Boston Bruins @ Florida Panthers – Upset Alert – Panthers over Bruins (+140 ML)

Seriously? The Bruins have lost six games all season and I'm picking them to lose two in a row. Sunny Florida is not always the friendliest road trip, however, and the Panthers at home tend to put the puck in the net. This should be Jeremy Swayman's game, and while he has been hot since the beginning of 2023, I see this one as a 40+ shot effort by the Cats.  Side bet #2 – Aleksander Barkov to score (+170).

Bronze Selection

Arizona Coyotes @ Anaheim Ducks – Pick: Adam Henrique takes over 1.5 shots on goal. 

Henrique has had 3+ shots in each of his past four games. Against the Coyotes and at home? Just seems like low hanging fruit.   I'd have picked him to score but I ran out of bets after Side bet #3 which is that Mason McTavish also goes for the Over here, besting 2.5 SOG (+100).

Stick tap

to the three bottom Western Conference NHL teams who won games Thursday evening, as Chicago, Anaheim, and Arizona proved to all that players want to win. Tanking might be a thing in the press, but not on the ice.