New Jersey Devils vs. Edmonton Oilers Prediction, NHL Odds
-
Edgar Chaput
Saturday was spent in Calgary, where the New Jersey Devils put out the Flames 4-2. This was New Jersey’s third victory in a row and has them on the bubble for a playoff spot. The Oilers have spent all weekend at home. They last played on Friday night against the Wild whom they defeated 4-3, thus continuing their upward trajectory.
Edmonton is viewed favourably for this matchup, but not by leaps and bounds. The NHL odds have the Oilers priced at -160.
Devils vs. Oilers NHL Betting Odds
As intra-conference foes, New Jersey-Edmonton games don’t get top billing. It’s been over a year since they last played. The two-game set from the previous campaign was contested within a few weeks in November, the Devils winning both. Overall, the franchises have split the six most recent meetings.
Slowly but surely things are getting better for both of these teams. Lately, each has found momentum and is riding it as much as possible. That still hasn’t resulted in much good against the spread in New Jersey, however. The club is only 7-18 ATS, including Saturday’s two-goal in Calgary.
Much the same can be said of Edmonton, who despite playing marvellous hockey for a few weeks at this stage is no better than 8-16 ATS. Four of their last five games have played the over, and given how they are blitzing opponents with their scoring touch, that feels like the safest bet these days. Keep in mind that the Devils have the second-worst GAA (3.60) in the NHL and third-worst save percentage (.888).
New Jersey Devils
Despite what we just wrote about the Devils’ weakness in net, Vitek Vanecek equipped himself nicely on Saturday versus the Flames in the 4-2 victory.
It wasn’t that he was called into action all that much (25 shots against), and there was one of Calgary’s two goals that perhaps a more alert keeper would have shielded, but overall it was a fine performance. As for the team as a whole, they played with fire insofar as they allowed the hosts to get the crowd into it with a late first-period lead. The Devils would not be tamed, however, and a mixture of good crashing to the net and crease presence results in the team scoring three of the game’s next four goals (they added an empty netter late). Nico Hischier (fifth) levelled the terms with a fine wrist shot in the second before Jesper Bratt (11th) gave his side the lead. In the third period Alexander Holtz (eighth) was the benefactor of a kind deflection that made it 3-1.
Edmonton Oilers
Granted, Friday night’s game at home versus the Minnesota Wild was tight. The Oilers didn’t blow away their opponents as they had recently. Even so, their demonstration of speed, grit, and bravura was another example how much better the current iteration of the team is from a month ago.
A lot can be extrapolated from the type of goals they’re scoring these days. To borrow a popularized term, Edmonton is currently “feeling it.” Evan Bouchard (sixth) scored a brace, his first coming in the opening frame and was a superb wrist shot from a fair distance that blew past the keeper. His second (seventh) was the game-winner, a rocket of a slapper on the power play in the third period. Sandwiched between those goals was a beguiling bit of individual puck handling and patience from Connor McDavid (ninth) and a power play marker from Leon Draisaitl (11th).
Yes, there are still some deficiencies on the blue line and Stuart Skinner cannot always be trusted to make those key stops. Those may prove to be the Oilers’ downfall eventually. But for now, they’re winning, and doing so no matter what.
