NHL Best Bets: Canucks vs. Golden Knights Game Picks

Two Pacific division foes are set to collide on Saturday evening, with the Vancouver Canucks visiting the Vegas Golden Knights.

All Odds Courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

There hasn’t been a ton of consistency to this point of the regular season for the Canucks, but they’re playing better of late, which has seen them post a 5-4-1 record over their past ten games. The Golden Knights have somewhat come back down to earth and are 6-3-1 over that same sample size. Even though that’s a solid record, they sit at 16-5-1 on the campaign for a reason. 

The Golden Knights are coming off a 4-2 loss last night to the Seattle Kraken, while the Canucks haven’t played since Wednesday, where they bested the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. That should give them some momentum to build off entering another challenging matchup against the division leader. 

Looking toward the projected goalie matchup tonight, the visiting Canucks are expected to continue leaning on Thatcher Demko, while the Golden Knights should do the same with Logan Thompson. Demko has struggled this year, and whether you want to give more of the blame to him or the defense, there are definite question marks about how he’s performed to this point. The American netminder has posted a 2-9-2 record, paired with a .883 save percentage, while Thompson is 11-3 with a .925 save percentage. Demko is always capable of turning in a strong performance, which will need to be the case with Vegas playing on a back-to-back. 

Even though the Golden Knights are the better team here, there’s too much value in the visiting Canucks to pass up on this Saturday slate. There’s been encouraging trends surrounding Vancouver of late, and siding with them on the moneyline at +140 is the direction bettors should lean in. 

Best Bet: Canucks moneyline (+140) 

Four of the last five Canucks games have seen seven or more goals scored, while two of the previous five Golden Knights games have too. Scoring goals certainly hasn’t been a problem for the Golden Knights or Canucks, but keeping pucks out of the net has been an issue for Vancouver. It’s hard to be highly confident in what the Canucks are bringing to the table in net, and even though we expect them to pull off the upset tonight, that likely transpires in a more high-scoring affair. Knowing that, with the total set at 6.5, there’s some value in siding with the over at -115. 

Best Bet: Over 6.5 (-115) 

Brock Boeser has been a consistent 25-goal scorer in his NHL career, and it’s surprising to see him having just two goals through 14 games played. He has much more to bring to the table for this Canucks team, and he’ll be relied upon tonight to contribute offense against a deep Golden Knights team. Boeser has recorded five goals and four assists in nine career games against Vegas, which is a nice enough sample size where we can start appreciating what he brings to this matchup. Boeser is listed at a great price of +280 to score tonight, and that’s hard to fade with the value it presents. 

Best Prop: Brock Boeser to Record Over 0.5 Goals (+280)