Top NHL Betting Picks for Wednesday

Puck Luck Dec 18. 2013

Ottawa Senators at New Jersey Devils (-125, 5)

If the Ottawa Senators are going to be a playoff team, they’re going to have to learn how to string a few wins together. They haven’t won consecutive games in more than a month and now face a tough test in New Jersey tonight. The good news for Senators supporters is the club is coming off a big overtime win over a very tough St. Louis Blues team, thanks to the deciding goal from hometown product Cody Ceci. Over in New Jersey, Martin Brodeur continues to roll along and just posted his third shutout of the season Saturday against Tampa Bay. The Devils give up just a league-low 24.5 shots per game and the way Ottawa’s offence is going, it’s hard to see a barn-burner here.

Pick: Under

Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers (-115, 5)

The New York Rangers finally got the monkey off their back by downing Calgary 4-3 in a shootout on Sunday. It wasn’t pretty, but Henrik Lundqvist’s reaction after sealing the win with a stop tells you all you need to know about how much this team needed a victory. New York is still just 1-3-1 on its current homestand and will need to bring a big effort here to take care of Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. However, the Rangers couldn’t have picked a better time for a date with Pittsburgh. The Pens are missing their top four defencemen as well as snipers James Neal and Evgeni Malkin. This is the kind of game that could give the Rangers a much-needed boost and you have to figure the Penguins’ absences will start biting them eventually.

Pick: New York Rangers