{"id":511461,"date":"2026-03-19T14:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/511461\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:08:20","slug":"nhl-best-bets-picks-stars-vs-avalanche-blues-vs-flames-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/511461\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Best Bets & Picks: Stars vs Avalanche, Blues vs Flames Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expert NHL picks & best bets for Stars vs Avalanche, Blues vs Flames & more. Get odds, promos & game analysis you can use tonight.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Expert
\n\t\tNHL Best Bets & Picks: Stars vs Avalanche & Blues vs Flames \u2013 Expert Game Previews<\/p>\n

The National Hockey League (NHL<\/a>) has 11 total games on the schedule for Thursday evening. All games are available on ESPN+, with the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild also available on hulu at 7:30 p.m. ET, and the Utah Mammoth and Vegas Golden Knights meeting at 10 p.m. ET on hulu.<\/p>\n

We’ll provide single plays and parlay opportunities you could potentially pair with Thursday’s NBA and\/or NCAA Tournament college basketball action. Good luck with all of your plays! Let’s get started.<\/p>\n

Top up your bankroll thanks to sportsbook promos<\/a> like this BetMGM bonus code<\/a> offering $1,500 in bonus bets.<\/p>\n

For the latest\u00a0NHL Odds<\/a>, including\u00a0NHL Futures<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0NHL player props<\/a>, visit RotoWire’s\u00a0NHL Betting<\/a>\u00a0page. For up-to-date\u00a0NHL player news<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0NHL Injury Report<\/a>\u00a0info, head to RotoWire’s\u00a0NHL Lineups<\/a>\u00a0page. You can find more picks at Bookies.com\/picks<\/a>. Here are our NHL Best Bets today, featuring expert NHL picks for an action-packed slate of games.<\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens \"MTL\"\/ at Detroit Red Wings \"DET\"\/<\/p>\n

The Canadiens (37-20-10) meet the Red Wings (37-23-8) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Montreal has posted a sparkling 18-7-8 record on the road this season, while Detroit has managed a decent 19-11-3 mark on home ice.<\/p>\n

These two teams have split the season series, with Montreal winning 5-1 in Detroit on Oct. 9 as short ‘dogs (+120) as the Under (6.5) cashed, while the Habs returned the favor with a 4-0 win as underdogs (+110) as the Under (6) hit on Jan. 10 at Bell Centre. John Gibson<\/a> had 27 saves for the shutout in the latter.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens picked up a 3-2 victory in overtime on Tuesday as moderate favorites (-160) as the Under (6.5) cashed. That halted a two-game mini-skid at home. The Habs have still picked up points in five of the past seven games, going 4-2-1 since March 6, while posting a 9-3-3 mark since Jan. 27, collecting 21 out of a possible 30 points. The Under has cashed at a 4-0-1 clip in the past five games, too.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings posted a 5-2 win over the visiting Calgary Flames on Monday night behind Gibson-2 (25-15-5, 2.56 GAA, .906 SV%, 4 SO), who is expected to be in the blue ice on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Habs are expected to counter with Jakub Dobes<\/a> (22-7-4, 2.93 GAA, .892 SV%) in between the pipes. He has allowed three or fewer goals in four straight starts since getting pounded for six goals on 27 shots in a 7-5 loss in San Jose on March 3. He was in net Oct. 9 in Detroit, stopping 30 of 31 shots in a win.<\/p>\n

Let’s back the Canadiens, who are playing much better hockey lately, and we’ll stick with the road trend in this series, too. In addition, the Under is 4-2 in the past six games for the Wings, and 2-0 in two meetings with Montreal this season. Let’s go low on the total.<\/p>\n

Canadiens ML (-110 at Bet365, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel Sportsbooks)Under 6.5 (-130 at DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel Sportsbook)<\/p>\n

Don’t make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps<\/a> without first consulting the latest NHL odds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida Panthers \"FLA\"\/ at Edmonton Oilers \"EDM\"\/<\/p>\n

The Panthers (33-31-3) and Oilers (34-26-9) meet at Rogers Place at 9 p.m. ET in a rematch of the past two Stanley Cup Finals.<\/p>\n

Florida has dropped the first two stops on this four-game road trip, getting outscored 11-4 in Seattle and Vancouver. The Panthers were crushed 5-2 by the worst team in the NHL, the Canucks, last time out. That could unofficially be the final nail in their coffin, as Florida goes from two-time Stanley Cup champs to likely missing the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Edmonton won’t shed any tears for Florida, as the Panthers have kept the Oilers from engraving their names on Lord Stanley’s chalice each of the past two years.<\/p>\n

The Oilers topped the San Jose Sharks 5-3 last time out on Tuesday as moderate favorites (-160) as the Over (7) cashed. Connor Ingram<\/a> started his third straight game, and he is 2-0-1 in the span. It isn’t all good for the Oilers, though, as they’re still trying to figure out the offense with Leon Draisaitl<\/a> declared out for the remainder of the season due to a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n

Still, Edmonton is 4-1-1 in the past six games, and it is playing better than Florida, which looks rather tired and running on fumes lately. These teams met in Sunrise on Nov. 22, and the Oilers doubled up the Panthers 6-3 as short ‘dogs (+105) as the Over (5.5) cashed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We’ll back the Oilers straight up, going high on the total in this rematch, too. It might not make Edmonton forget about those Stanley Cup losses the past couple of seasons, but it will get the Oilers two points closer to a playoff berth this season.<\/p>\n

Oilers ML (-150 at Bet365, Fanatics and FanDuel Sportsbook)Over 6.5 (-115 at Bet365, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel Sportsbooks)<\/p>\n

Missouri sports betting<\/a>\u00a0is live, and you can check in on the best\u00a0Missouri sportsbook promos<\/a>\u00a0if you’re located in the Show Me State.<\/p>\n

Parlay Strategy and Super Parlay Picks for NHL Betting Slates4-Leg NHL Super Parlay (+822 at FanDuel Sportsbook)Canadiens ML (-110) at Red WingsUnder 6.5 (-134) – Canadiens at Red WingsOver 6.5 (-115) – Oilers vs. PanthersOilers ML (-152) vs. Panthers2-Leg NHL Sides Parlay (+216 at FanDuel Sportsbook)Canadiens ML (-110) at Red WingsOilers ML (-152) vs. Panthers2-Leg NHL Totals Parlay (+226 at FanDuel Sportsbook)Under 6.5 (-134) – Canadiens at Red WingsOver 6.5 (-115) – Oilers vs. Panthers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Expert NHL picks & best bets for Stars vs Avalanche, Blues vs Flames & more. Get odds, promos…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[895,26,5294,896,5,55615,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-511461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary-flames","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-calgaryflames","11":"tag-flames","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-minor-league-stats","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116256239375491305","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511461","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=511461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}