NHL Best Bets For 2/28/23: Expert Betting Picks For Tonight’s Games

Get NHL best bets and our expert predictions for tonight’s NHL slate of games on (2/28/23) Find four best bets for the NHL games tonight.

NHL Best Bets (2/28/23)

A jam-packed Tuesday NHL slate is here and our NHL best bets are locked in for tonight’s slate of games.

Columbus Blue Jackets Vs. Buffalo Sabres Best Bet

The Buffalo Sabres are on a tear right now. The team’s currently on a 5-1 streak as Buffalo continues to battle in the extremely competitive Eastern Conference playoff situation. While I could make the argument for the puck line or moneyline, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Buffalo has also been putting up a whole lot of goals. Throughout those last six games, the Sabres are averaging five goals per matchup. Losing Alex Tuch (28 goals) to IR isn’t ideal, but Buffalo has more than enough firepower available with Dylan Cozens (23 goals), Jeff Skinner (25 goals), and of course Tage Thompson (40 goals).  

Columbus is going to have a tough night holding off the electric Buffalo offense. The Blue Jackets are allowing 3.68 goals per game, ranking them 30th in the league. The team will be starting goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who’s in the midst of a disastrous season with a 4.14 GAA, ranking him 47th in the league among goalies with at least 21 appearances this season. Buffalo has been 17-11-1 to the over at home this season, and are overall on a 6-2 run to the over. While I’ll probably put a sprinkle on the puck line as well, I’m going with the safe bet and taking the over tonight at KeyBank Center.

Best Bet: Over 7
Author: Anthony Elio

Seattle Kraken Vs. St. Louis Blues Best Bet

This is shaping up to be a pretty disastrous year for the St. Louis Blues. After making it to the second round of the postseason last year, the Blues are now quite behind in the Wild Card race and have been shipping away talent like Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly. In fact, St. Louis has failed to win a game since trading O’Reilly, and tonight they will continue to be tested against a playoff-hungry Kraken team. Goalie Jordan Binnington (3.27 GAA, .896 SV%) is in the midst of a rough season, and has allowed 3.5 goals in his last four starts. 

Seattle isn’t shaping up to be much better in goal with projected starter Phillipp Grubauer. The netminder has a .893 save percentage on the year, with a 3.10 GAA. However, Seattle’s much-improved offense will keep them in this game. The Kraken are seventh in the NHL in scoring, averaging 3.44 goals per game this year. Jordan Eberle (47 points), Jared McCann (26 goals), and Calder Trophy favorite Matty Beniers (19 goals) continue to be productive for this franchise in its second season. While I’m expecting Seattle to win, I’m relying on a pair of underperforming goaltenders to let this total fly over.

Best Bet: Over 6
Author: Anthony Elio

Columbus Blue Jackets Vs. Buffalo Sabres Best Bet

The Sabres have won three in a row as they look to sneak into the Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference. They will face a hapless Blue Jackets team who have dropped seven of their last ten games and continue to boast one of the league’s worst defensive units and goaltending situation. In coordination with Anthony’s over play, which is certainly a bet to make given the scoring threats in this game, I do expect the Sabres to do a bulk of the lifting in the goal department. 

Elvis Merzlikins is starting and has allowed over a 4.00 GAA this season. Much like the Elvis movie, this is not very good. Columbus is bottom ten in scoring chances allowed this season and sixth in high-danger scoring chances allowed. The Sabres offense has been putting up big points of late and have the 6th best powerplay unit in hockey. Look for Buffalo to take care of business at home tonight and light the lamp plenty.

Best Bet: Sabres -1.5
Author: Jason Guilbault

New York Islanders Vs. Minnesota Wild Best Bet

You don’t see many totals of five in the modern NHL but between these two teams it is no surprise. Now five is a scary number and there are some 5.5 available but you begin to add some juice to it. While these are playoff teams, they are also very pedestrian offenses that rely on good defense and goaltending to get by. Both are in the bottom half of the league for HDF% and the Wild actually rank 24th in high-danger chances for. The Islanders do have positive regression coming their way and are an interesting underdog tonight as well. The issue is both of these teams struggle relatively 5v5. 

Filip Gustavsson is in net tonight and has been the better of the two keepers for Minnesota. He has a 2.11 GAA and 0.28 SV% this season. Ilya Sorokin is projected to be in net and has a 2.41 GAA and 0.24 SV%. Sorokin also has five shutouts on the season. If for any reason Sorokin isn’t in net tonight, I would void this pick. Both keepers should keep goals limited and I like the value that this is a very low scoring game.

Best Bet: Under 5
Author: Jason Guilbault

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Jason Guilbault is the Brand Content Manager for Lineups.com, powered by Catena Media. He has worked 10+ in the sports betting & iGaming space as a writer and content manager. Jason has also written for DailyFantasyCafe, NBAMockDraft, & FantasyPros. He aims to bring the best sports data & insight to the industry for both novice & advanced users.

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