NHL Best Bets & Picks for Lightning vs Stars – Jan. 18 Predictions
On Sunday, the National Hockey League (NHL) has total of three games on the schedule, with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars kicking off the slate at 2 p.m. EST on NHL Network in the matinee game.
The Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings battle at 5 p.m. EST on ESPN+, and the St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers square off at 8 p.m. EST, also on ESPN+. With the Senators and Oilers also in action Saturday, we’ll focus on the pair of teams coming in with a little bit of rest.
We’ll take a look at some same-game parlay (SGP) possibilities, and we’ll also kick the tires on some game prop plays to make things a little more interesting. Let’s get started!
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For the latest NHL Odds, including NHL Futures and NHL player props, visit RotoWire’s NHL Betting page. For up-to-date NHL player news and NHL Injury Report info, head to RotoWire’s NHL Lineups page. You can find more picks at Bookies.com/picks. Here are our NHL Best Bets today, featuring expert NHL picks for an action-packed slate of games.
Expert NHL Best Bets for Lightning vs Stars Matchup
Tampa Bay Lightning at Dallas Stars 
The Lightning (29-13-4) and Stars (27-12-9) do battle at American Airlines Center in Dallas in a marquee battle in the NHL. And, as luck has it, the game is on NHL Network at 2 p.m. EST.
These teams met on Oct. 30 at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa. The Lightning came away with a 2-1 victory in overtime in a game with tremendous defense and goaltending.
After a scoreless first period in that late October matchup, Brandon Hagel lit the lamp with a power-play goal with helpers from Gage Goncalves and Charle-Edouard D’Astous. In the third period, Adam Erne notched an even-strength goal at 2:03, with apples for Alexander Petrovic and Radek Faksa, and that’s all the scoring we saw in regulation. In OT, Anthony Cirelli broke free and netted the unassisted goal to win it 2-1.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves on 21 shots in that OTW victory, while Jake Oettinger took the hard-luck loss, allowing two goals on 33 shots.
Don’t make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.
The Lightning suffered a 3-2 loss in a shootout on Friday against those aforementioned Blues at Enterprise Center, halting their 11-game win streak. However, the Lightning were still able to extend their point streak to 12 games, going 11-0-1 in the span.
It’s almost a certainty that Vasilevskiy (19-7-3, 2.26 GAA, .913 SV%, 1 SO) will be in between the pipes for the visitors, while Oettinger (16-9-4, 2.74 GAA, .902 SV%, 2 SO) is confirmed for Sunday’s start.
Vasilevskiy allowed two goals on 21 shots in that 3-2 SO loss in St. Louis, but he is still 4-0-1 with a 1.94 GAA and .919 SV% in five starts in January, and he is 8-0-1 with a 2.17 GAA and .910 SV% in the win streak since Dec. 20 in Carolina. And, again, he was on the winning side of that narrow OTL win against Dallas earlier this season.
As usual, Nikita Kucherov is performing at a high rate, posting 11 goals and 27 points with a plus-12 rating and 11 power-play goals in his past 12 games, which just so happens to be the length of Tampa Bay’s point streak. In the past eight games, Darren Raddysh has stepped up his play, too, posting four goals and 14 points with a plus-10 rating and six power-play points, with Hagel notching four goals and 11 points in the past eight. It’s an embarrassment of riches for the Lightning offense lately.
Brayden Point had been hot, too, going for five goals and 11 points with a plus-11 rating in his past eight games, but he is sidelined due to a leg injury suffered Monday against the Flyers. He missed the game Friday, and he has since been placed on Injured Reserve, which is a big blow to the offense.
For Dallas, the hot streaks are a little more muted. Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson each have two goals and four points across the past four games, while Wyatt Johnston had a goal and three points in the past three outings.
The good news is that the Stars are mostly healthy, and that should go a long way in this marquee home matchup.
Dallas has just two goals in the past two games, regulation losses at Utah and Anaheim. They are just 2-3-1 in the six-game road trip, and the Stars are 2-5-4 in the past 11 games since Dec. 23. It is 0-1-2 in the past three games on home ice since its last victory Dec. 21 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tampa Bay is red-hot, and you have to keep riding that wave until it crashes. In addition, let’s roll with the Under, as we had a knock ’em down, drag ’em out fight in the first meeting. In addition, the Under has cashed in three straight for Dallas, as well as the past three for Tampa Bay.
As far as player props, what’s not to like about Kucherov as an Anytime Goal Scorer? At plus-money, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that. Just keep it simple.
For Dallas, Robertson leads the Stars with 27 goals, and he is far and away the shots lead with 174 SOG, and a 15.5 percent shooting percentage across 48 games. Let’s go with Robertson to get to at least three SOG in this marquee battle.
- Lightning ML (-110 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Under 6.5 (-140 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Nikita Kucherov – Anytime Goal Scorer (+140 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Jason Robertson – 3+ Shots on Goal (-146 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
Don’t make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.
Key NHL Betting Trends Shaping Today’s Picks
4-Leg NHL Super Same-Game Parlay (+975 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Lightning ML (-110) at Stars
- Under 6.5 (-140) – Lightning at Stars
- Nikita Kucherov – Anytime Goal Scorer (+140)
- Jason Robertson – 3+ Shots on Goal (-146)
2-Leg NHL Side/Total Same-Game Parlay (+209 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Lightning ML (-110) at Stars
- Under 6.5 (-140) – Lightning at Stars
