NHL Best Bets, Score Predictions for Saturday Apr. 24

VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert

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NHL Daily Free Picks & Predictions

VegasInsider.com NHL expert Matt Blunt provides his score predictions and best bets for two NHL games on Saturday, Apr. 24, 2021.

Washington Capitals vs N.Y. Islanders

• Money-Line Odds: Washington +108; N.Y. Islanders -124
• Total (Over-Under): 5.5

Score Prediction: Washington 4 N.Y. Islanders 3

Best Bet: Over 5.5; Both team totals Over 2.5

Went through the daily schedule for the entire year and only came up with two previous games that were 0-0 after 60 minutes.

Tampa and Carolina played their 1-0 OT game back on January 28th, and this same Islanders team was just here last week after beating Philly 1-0 in extra time on the 18th.

Not one of those matchups saw the two teams play one another again in their next outing, but those four teams did go 4-0 SU (2-2 O/U) in their next game, scoring an average of 3.75 goals/game and never scoring fewer than three.

I'll lean on that average of 3.75 goals per game for these teams and not one of them scoring fewer than three goals in their next game to hope for goals and really not care who comes out on top. Spreading it out with the team totals likely salvages an 'under' result that's 3-1 or 4-1 too.

Ottawa Senators vs Vancouver Canucks

• Money-Line Odds: Ottawa +120; Vancouver -139
• Total (Over-Under): 6

Score Prediction: Vancouver 4 Ottawa 3

Best Bet: Over 6

Two straight wins over the division-leading Maple Leafs right out of the shoot for the Canucks was going to bring an empty gas tank with it eventually.

The 3-0 loss was a game where the tank wasn't completely empty for the Canucks, but some tough luck on the 31 shots they had on net, combined with some stretches of sloppy play and a fuming gas tank hopefully had them get that dud of a game out of their system.

Three games under their belts should be enough for most guys to have their legs back again, but it's still the Canucks and their league-worst 3.38 xGA/60.

Meaning there is minimal interest in completely trusting the Canucks to win this game – jumping on them as underdogs if trailing in-game is an option - but I do believe Vancouver will be a much better version of themselves.

Ottawa's only other shutout win this year came last week and they followed it up with a 4-2 win, while Vancouver's four previous shutout losses have been followed by a 5-2 loss, 4-3 loss, 4-0 win, and 5-1 loss.

That's an average of 6 goals/game for both teams in this specific situation in the past, and with the 0-5 O/U run in this rivalry something I don't think is sustainable much longer, I'll hope we get an offensive explosion tonight.

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