Stanley Cup 2022: Updated NHL Game Odds and Best Thursday Night Picks

Fans of WagerBop’s “nerdier” ice hockey coverage will lament that this year’s World Championships are once again laden with no-name skaters and “B” teams. But there’s always a betting opportunity on the pond when speculators are waving-off entire events as pointless to investigate. Switzerland, for example, makes a terrific gold-medal underdog in 2022, sitting a just a 22-to-1 futures/championship betting price for a national team that may have the most skilled and well-motivated NHL contingent skating at the 2022 Worlds. Switzerland’s checking lines are full of quality skaters from the nation’s underrated National League, and there are no superstar goaltenders present in Finland to simply out-class the Swiss in the medal round.

Is there a similar 20-to-1-range futures pick on the NHL board that could pay-off by simple arithmetic? Probably not, since the league’s most elemental tactics are found in teams who’re already on the ropes this year, like the Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild. Canadian clubs remain the weirdest and most confounding long-term NHL picks of all, as illustrated by the Toronto Maple Leafs leading their series over defending-champ Tampa Bay, but the (formerly) plutonium-hot Edmonton Oilers trailing in their series against the L.A. Kings.

Thankfully, there’s still a bunch of worthy underdogs on the betting board – just not the Stanley Cup futures betting board. Thursday’s odds-to-win Game 6 faceoffs appear to be hiding true favorites in “plus” odds from coastline to coastline.

Scroll for our recommended O/U picks and a healthy dash of “live dog” Game 6 picks in the NHL’s opening-round playoff action on Thursday.

Thursday Night NHL Playoff Odds and Picks

May 12: Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins (Game 6, Hurricanes lead 3-2)

The Carolina Hurricanes may not be the most curious underdog of Thursday’s NHL playoff teams, but they’re certainly close, as a (+110) moneyline pick to eliminate the home-standing Boston Bruins after wiping out the Spokes 5-1 in Game 5.

A pricey Puck Line and (-132) moneyline odds on the Boston Bruins are probably fool’s gambits, given how porous Boston has looked so often in the young postseason.

Carolina’s dynamic blue-liner Tony DeAngelo is coming off a 3-point game, and Finnish forward Sebastian Aho remains a game-changing threat for Carolina on any shift.

WagerBop’s Pick: Carolina (+110)

May 12: Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning (Game 6, Maple Leafs lead 3-2)

The Maple Leafs’ potential opening-round upset of the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning comes as no great shock to odds-makers, who’ve valued Toronto highly as a long-term futures wager for the last 2 seasons. What is more surprising is that the Maple Leafs are out-goaltending the Lightning in crucial periods throughout the series, as Toronto GK Jack Campbell’s inconsistent form has peaked at the right time.

Toronto is a (+110) moneyline underdog to win Game 6 and dispatch Tampa Bay’s skaters to golf courses right away, but remains the betting favorite to win the series and advance.

NHL goaltenders like Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues have shown that fans (and bookmakers) are happy to forget the pitfalls of a regular season if the team’s netminding shores-up as soon as the postseason begins. Given that Bolts star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is still considered among the best GKs of the era, it may have been unwise for FanDuel to offer O/U (6.5) goals with (+104) on the low side for Game 6.

WagerBop’s Pick: Under (6.5)

May 12: Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues (Game 6, Blues lead 3-2)

The Blue Note is a strange Thursday night underdog, standing at (-105) moneyline odds to defeat the visiting (and series-trailing) Minnesota Wild. The game’s generous O/U goal-total line of (6.5) tallies indicates that Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota transition game will eventually pile up too many scoring chances for the Blues to hold on for a series-upset, at least in the minds of Las Vegas’ pond-shinny handicappers. Kaprizov scored twice in a losing cause for the Wild in Game 5. But it’s STL forward Vladimir Tarasenko, not Kaprizov, who scored a hat trick to lead St. Louis to a lopsided win on the road. Tarasenko’s return as a playoff scoring machine helps to vindicate a Blues front office that was previously urged trade or sell off the Russian dynamo. St. Louis hockey fans are known to be fickle and easily distracted, but it’s hard to imagine the Gateway City won’t be rocking on Thursday for a home team with solid momentum.

WagerBop’s Pick: St. Louis (-105)

May 12: Edmonton Oilers at L.A. Kings (Game 6, Kings lead 3-2)

Maybe we’ve found our Stanley Cup-version of “Switzerland” way down in SoCal. It was easy to overlook the L.A. Kings as the Edmonton Oilers shot up the Western Conference standings in early spring. But the club is now on the verge of knocking out the formerly red-hot Oilers, just as other Canadian clubs manage to make more noise than Connor McDavid’s team in the opening round. Los Angeles is a (+118) moneyline-odds underdog to win Game 6 at home and eliminate Edmonton. Yet at the same time, the desperation of the Kings not to go back to Canada (yet) could push L.A. over the top and produce a stunning 4-2 series victory on Thursday night.

WagerBop’s Pick: L.A. (+118)