NHL Predictions: Expert Picks Wednesday, December 18

On By Littum

NHL Predictions – Expert Picks for Wednesday, December 18:

Here are tonight’s NHL predictions:

10 p.m. ET

It’s the third time this season that Utah has gone from the underdog to the betting favorite. In the previous two instances, Utah fell short, losing at home to Washington and Minnesota. Utah opened as a (-105) home underdog and has now turned into a (-120) home favorite as they get 48% of the bets and 72% of the money.

Vancouver is looking for back-to-back wins for the first time in 17 days after their 4-1 win over Colorado on Monday. The Canucks responded to the criticism of head coach Rick Tocchet’s comments about having too many “passengers” and not enough players involved in trying to win a hockey game. The road has been the Canucks’ happy place. Vancouver is 10-2-1 away from Rogers Arena compared to six wins in 17 home games.

Utah HC is coming off back-to-back road wins over San Jose and Colorado, scoring four goals in each win and has won four of their last five overall, with all four wins coming from the Delta Center. Like Vancouver, home ice hasn’t treated Utah HC very kindly. They have lost five in a row and nine of 13 games on home ice, and they have given up three or more goals in four of their last five defeats at the Delta Center.

Look for Karel Vejmelka to start tonight for the home side. Vejmelka is looking for his first win against the Canucks (0-2-2, 5.08 GAA, .822 SV) and has had his hands full with Vancouver’s Conor Garland. Garland has five goals in four games against “Veggie”.

NHL Predictions: Vancouver Canucks TT Over 2.5 (-150) – 1.5 Units
Conor Garland Anytime Goal (+235) – ¼ unit

10 p.m. ET

Adam Lowry’s goal with 73 seconds left in regulation capped the Jets’ comeback from down 3-2 midway through the third period and gave Winnipeg a 4-3 win over the Sharks in San Jose. The Jets now travel to Southern California tonight against an Anaheim team they have dominated, winning nine of the last 10 meetings. I expect Eric Comrie to get the start in goal tonight for Winnipeg. Comrie is 3-4 this season and has given up three or more goals in six of his seven starts. The Jets are 0-2 in the second half of back to backs this season, falling to Nashville and Columbus by identical 4-1 scores. What does all this mean as it pertains to Anaheim? Three is the magic number for ducks. Anaheim is 10-1 this season when he scores three or more goals.

NHL Predictions: Anaheim Ducks TT Over 2.5 (-135) – 1.5 units
Anaheim Ducks ML (+145) – ¼ unit Best of the rest
Florida Panthers/Minnesota Wild 1St period Over 1.5 (-105) – ½ unit