Last week's gold, silver, bronze skunk show has us motivated and fired up for a bounce-back Saturday stacked with winners. There's no denying this stretch between the end of the Four Nations Face-Off and March 7 NHL trade deadline is an extremely difficult one to handicap, and today's betting board is no exception, but we still have a few spots we're really liking followed up by our top-three side bets that are catching reduced wagers. With a number of matinée matchups going off early today, we're honing in on the evening tilts to allow more time for pregame research and degenerate sprinkling. As always, good luck and let's get this paper.

Complete 2024-25 Saturday Record (Daily Record Tracked/Posted @Flips_Picks):

Gold: 8-8

Silver: 8-8
Bronze: 7-9

Side Bets (Located at Bottom of Article): 28-18

2024-25 Combined Saturday Record: 51-44

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Gold Selection
Edmonton Oilers @ Carolina Hurricanes – Pick: McDavid 2+ Anytime Points (+124)
When a team that's as loaded with elite offensive options as the Edmonton Oilers gets called out by their head coach in the media, that usually results in a major response from that club. That angle might be a tough one to track in terms of actual win percentage, but the Oilers are just far too good and dangerous on the man advantage and offensive end in general to be dropping five games in a row at this point in the season. Sure, Stuart Skinner is a go-to punching bag for Edmonton's woes, and he has looked shaky over his last three starts allowing 13 goals and posting a .874 save percentage while clearly struggling to see pucks and control rebounds. However, this team butters its bread by pummeling the opposition's blue line with an up-tempo forecheck and high-octane offense and that’s simply not been the case of late.

A lot of that falls directly on 97, and even though it's somewhat understandable there might be some fallout after such a massive high that was his overtime Canadian Heritage Moment-type goal, this guy is just too explosive and offensively gifted to have only three assists over his last five games. Much like our following two breakdowns, we're keeping this very simple: McDavid responds and starts this tilt with a shot-out-of-a-canon-like energy and has a big game to help snap the Oilers' latest slide. In 14 career regular-season games against Carolina, McDavid owns solid numbers to the tune of five goals and 15 assists and we expect him to pad those this evening.

Silver Selection
Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres – Pick: Over 6.5 (-104)

We've said this countless times before when breaking down Saturday NHL betting boards, but usually there's at least one or two matchups that jump off the page as a great spot for a total bet. Today, this is the game that's screaming over. Taking the number down to 5.5 is also a worthwhile angle to explore that will still provide solid value, especially considering the fact that five of Montreal's last seven overall have stayed over the number and the same can be said for six of Buffalo's last eight. Head-to-head trends also point to a high-scoring affair between two Eastern Conference clubs fighting to stay above water, as the Sabres and Habs have combined for 24 total goals over their previous three meetings. Both the Canadiens and Sabres are feeling it offensively and both can have serious trouble keeping pucks out of their own net, so don't be shy about laying down a sizeable wager here or even slapping it into a juicy parlay for a larger payout.

Bronze Selection
Vancouver Canucks @ Seattle Kraken – Pick: Q. Hughes Anytime Assist (-136)

It's been made quite known in our Saturday articles over the past few weeks how we feel about the Vancouver Canucks and the team's overall quality as a legitimate playoff threat, but when it comes to their talisman Quinn Hughes, there are no doubts or illegitimate claims. Hughes is the straw that stirs the drink for this team and without him in the lineup, Vancouver is a rudderless rig lacking elite offensive punch. However, when it comes to player props that we love to regularly get behind, none come much better than a Quinn Hughes anytime assist, especially considering he leads the NHL in apples by D-men with 46, one more than Cale Makar and two up on Zach Werenski. If the Canucks want to continue to cling to the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, they're going to need a massive finish to the season from Hughes, starting tonight against a very average Kraken group. Luckily enough, for both the Canucks and us degenerates, Hughes is rocking seven assists in his 10 career regular-season games against Seattle and is primed to add another one tonight.

Side Bets

Montreal Canadiens @ Buffalo Sabres – Pick: Tage Thompson Anytime Goal (+135)

Edmonton Oilers @ Carolina Hurricanes – Pick: Oilers ML (+134)

New Jersey Devils @ Utah Hockey Club – Pick: Utah ML (-118)

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.