{"id":438554,"date":"2026-01-31T20:24:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/438554\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T20:24:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:24:40","slug":"nhl-odds-picks-best-bet-for-saturdays-matinee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/438554\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL odds, picks, best bet for Saturday’s matinee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Call it 1996: Perhaps one of hockey\u2019s most classic \u2014\u00a0and certainly most vicious \u2014 rivalries has regained its luster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Red Wings and Avalanche prepare for back-to-back tilts against one another, starting with ABC\u2019s Saturday matinee broadcast in Detroit. Maybe it\u2019s not the blood feud it once was, but both clubs sit atop the NHL<\/a>, and it\u2019s been a good 20 years since that was the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colorado is running away with the season. It leads the league with 79 points and has dominated in both raw and advanced metrics \u2014 so much so that FanDuel <\/a>has its own \u201cAvalanche\u201d section, where curated markets for Stanley Cup and Rocket Richard futures are listed so the house can bank all the chalky investments on Nathan Mackinnon.<\/p>\n

Mackinnon had a four-goal jump on Connor McDavid for the league lead with 38. He\u2019s No. 4 overall in expected goals and scores 1.98 per 60 minutes per MoneyPuck.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That kind of scoring acumen alongside Cale Makar\u2019s all-world talents on the backend has always put the Avalanche in the conversation, but they have filled a long-time essential need in goaltending. Scott Wedgewood has emerged late in his career to bolster the Avalanche to the fewest team goals against (129) and the highest team save percentage (.907), both of which are league-best marks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this elite core in place and excellent scoring depth, the Avalanche win with overwhelming forechecking and a speedy transition game that sparks chances off the rush. Their 5-on-5 rates in expected goals and shot attempt differential rank in the top two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every great team faces its adversity, however, and after recording a 10-game win streak twice this season, we\u2019ve seen some returning to Earth in January. The Avalanche are reeling from back-to-back multi-goal losses to Ottawa and Montreal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"JanColorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon (29) carries the puck against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period at Scotiabank Arena. John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Makar is missing his stalwart partner in Devon Toews due to a day-to-day injury and some defensive breakdowns have cost them. That\u2019s aside from a slothful power play that has fallen to No. 29 overall.<\/p>\n

Steve Yzerman\u2019s long-term rebuild plan looks near its end as the Red Wings are on pace to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, sitting two points out of first in the Atlantic Division. They\u2019ve accomplished this turnaround with a batch of young, show-stopping talent in Lucas Raymond and Alex Debrincat, who are the only two names that sit between Mackinnon and McDavid amongst the league\u2019s top-four players in expected goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s stars like Raymond and DeBrincat that exemplify how a successful rebuild should result, and that\u2019s one with complementary skillsets as opposed to homogenous talent. Raymond powers Detroit\u2019s top line as a creative playmaker aside from Dylan Larkin\u2019s speed, while DeBrincat has blossomed into a strong two-way player and scoring threat with the veteran seasoning of Patrick Kane and Andrew Copp.<\/p>\n

Betting on the NHL? <\/p>\n

Even though the Red Wings are rebounding from a pair of losses themselves and may not match Colorado as a 5-on-5 presence, they\u2019re in a more confident stint of their season and boast a top-10 power play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the morale around Kane becoming the all-time leading U.S.-born scorer <\/a>in Thursday\u2019s 4-3 shootout loss to Washington, the Wings have exciting home underdog value to beat the team everyone\u2019s afraid to fade.<\/p>\n

THE PLAY: Red Wings (+130, bet365<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,183,192,144,5277,93,5,4,351,43,171,352],"class_list":{"0":"post-438554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-colorado-avalanche","12":"tag-coloradoavalanche","13":"tag-detroit-red-wings","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-nhl-betting","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-betting","19":"tag-sports-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115991588016055327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}