Updated: 12:39 PM ET January 21, 2026

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The NHL is becoming more chaotic, in a good way, day in and day out. In the past week, in addition to continued movement in the standings, there has been another coach firing, another impactful trade, and the first goalie fight in the league in the past 5 years. This all adds to the fast-paced schedule as the league tries to get in as many games as possible before the season pauses for players to play in the Olympics. If you will be tuning in and want to have some action, I’ve picked out my NHL best bets for tonight, with lines and odds courtesy of DraftKings at the time of writing. Also, be sure to check out all of our NHL predictions for every game throughout the season, including all 6 matchups today.

NHL best bet: Colorado Avalanche -1.5 over Anaheim Ducks (-120)

This is just a plain lopsided game in favor of the Avalanche. Granted, just about any game in which the Avalanche play is lopsided in their favor. That is especially the case on Wednesday night against the Ducks. Anaheim had an excellent start to the season by all measures. But since mid-December, the Ducks are 6-11-2. Included in that stretch was a 9-game winless streak that has since been snapped by a current 4-game winning streak. 

A 4-game winning streak may seem counterintuitive to this pick. But the Ducks’ opponents in that stretch were the Stars who have been struggling, the Kings twice who have been struggling, and the Rangers who are a dumpster fire. Another headwind for Anaheim is they have lost very key players since late December. This team is outmatched in every way by an Avalanche team that leads the NHL in both goals scored and goals allowed per game, is 20-1-3 at home with a +58 goal differential, and has already beat the Ducks this year by a score of 4-1. This one should be all Colorado against an inferior opponent. 

NHL best bet: New York Islanders vs Seattle Kraken over 5.5 (-118)

The Islanders and Kraken have both been pleasant surprises around the hockey world this season. In the second-half of the season, the Islanders are in a playoff spot and the Kraken are just 2 points out with a game in hand. The play has been sloppy lately, though. The Islanders have traded wins and losses for 7 games, seemingly either scoring 4+ goals or allowing 4+ goals during that stretch and longer. The volatility and range of outcomes has resulted in the over hitting in 6 out of the Islanders’ last 9 games.

It has not been very pretty for Seattle in the last week either. The Kraken enter this game winless in their last 4 games as part of 6 losses in their last 7 games. They have allowed 16 goals in their last 3 games and in general, have not found much consistency lately. This slump follows a stretch in which Seattle went 8-0-1, scoring an average 4.0 goals per game. Seattle has the ability to produce, but has also shown recently they can be prone to allowing goals in bunches as well. The volatility and inconsistency of these teams recently bodes well for another game total over.

Read our full New York Islanders vs Seattle Kraken prediction

NHL best bet: Washington Capitals 3-way ML over Vancouver Canucks (+105)

It is a bad time to be a Canucks fan. Vancouver is winless in their last 11 games and has just 1 win in their last 14. They are not losing narrowly either. This team is getting bullied. In their last 8 games, Vancouver has lost by an average of 3.13 goals. After trading Quinn Hughes earlier this season, they recently traded arguably their best forward, Kiefer Sherwood, and now appear poised to sell off more assets. As ugly as it has been for the Canucks, it just might get uglier. 

It has not been great for the Capitals lately, either. But this is a great get-right spot for Washington. The Capitals have dropped 3 straight and 4 out of their last 5. They are 5-11-3 since mid-December, but are just 3 points out of a playoff spot thanks to a great start to the season. The Capitals are the far better team in this game and their poor results only add incentive to come out with increased urgency to take 2 points they really need against a weaker team. Look for a motivated Capitals team to win this one convincingly to break out of their slump.

Lock in our 5-star Capitals vs Canucks best bet for tonight