NHL Playoff Picks and Predictions for Tuesday August 18

Stanley Cup Playoffs NHL Best Bets

Games set for Tuesday, August 18, 2020
To be played in Toronto and Edmonton

NHL Favorite Best Bet

Matchup: Chicago vs. Vegas
TV-Time: NBCSN, 10:30 p.m. ET

Vegas -200

Chicago was somehow able to avoid getting swept in Game 4 despite getting outshot 49-24 in the game. G Corey Crawford was unbelievable in that effort, but the clock should strike midnight on the Blackhawks here in Game 5.

Vegas has dominated this series from the get-go, and they built this 3-1 series lead without even scoring a power-play goal yet. Vegas is 0-for-9 with the man advantage so far in this series, and with how much they've dominated play in general, I would not be surprised at all to see Vegas pot one on their first attempt with the extra man in Game 5.

Similar to what we saw from Colorado in their Game 4 win over the Coyotes yesterday, once the flood gates open for these far better teams, there really is no stopping them, and Vegas has yet to really see that gate crack open yet in this series. Two of their three wins were one-goal games, and sooner rather than later this Vegas team will put the hammer down and grab an easy win to close this thing out.

NHL Underdog Best Bet

Matchup:Chicago vs. Vegas
TV-Time: NBCSN, 10:30 p.m. ET

Vegas -1.5 (+125)

If the flood gates do indeed open up for the Golden Knights in Game 5, laying the -1.5 on the PL with Vegas is a correlated play that makes plenty of sense. It's going to be a popular one in the market as the growing narrative in this industry about laying steep prices as a bad thing continues to baffle me, but at this point it is what it is.


So if you are of a similar mindset here with the Knights finally breaking free and leaving this Blackhawks team in their wake, lay the -1.5 with Vegas as well.

NHL Over-Under Total Best Bet

Matchup:Philadelphia vs. Montreal
TV-Time: NBCSN, 3:00 p.m. ET

Philadelphia/Montreal Over 5

Here we've got another one of those streaks that nobody wants to go against with the Flyers 0-9 O/U in their last nine games overall, seven of which have come inside the bubble. Given how ugly Game 3 was for these two teams offensively, it will be hard for some to pull the trigger on this play. But there is really nowhere to go but up for both offenses after Game 3 – which had it's fair share of posts hit as well – and in a critical Game 4 for both teams in terms of where they will stand in the series afterwards, things should open up offensively for both.

During the regular season, Philadelphia saw goal totals of 5, 7, and 5 goals in their three games after a shutout win, while Montreal finished their lone game after a shutout loss with 5 total goals as well. What's even more interesting there is the fact that Montreal was only shutout once all year this season, so expecting an offensive bounce back effort from them in this game seems to make a lot of sense.

NHL Prop Best Bet

Matchup: Philadelphia vs. Montreal
TV-Time: NBCSN, 3:00 p.m. ET

Over 1.5 goals in 1st period (+115)

Might as well double up with the 'over' angle for this game between the Flyers and Canadiens, as if it is going to open up and be a much better offensive game as I expect, they might as well show it off the hop and put a few pucks in the net early.

Even with a grand total of nine goals through the first three games of this series overall, this prop did cash in Game 2 when Montreal won easy, and all three games have at at least one first period goal as well. At +115 and already liking the contrarian angle of going 'over' the full game number, the price is right to look for at least two goals in the first period.