Money On The Board: NHL's Best Bets for Jan.5/22

Welcome to the debut of Money on the Board, a column where I will showcase the NHL's best bets for each game night and dive into where you should be sprinkling your action on the board. This is purely just my take on the odds and I'm not in any way a financial or gambling advisor. I'm basically setting myself up to get blasted in our comments section but could potentially be helping some of you win some money. Let's hope more of option B. 

Wednesday Jan.5 brings us a light load as we only have two matchups on the board. Regardless, a great way to start off our new series, so let's take a look at tonight's best bets:

Edmonton Oilers @ Toronto Maple Leafs

Proline + Odds: 
Oilers (3.40) Maple Leafs (1.34): 
With Connor McDavid and Tyson Barrie out of the lineup on Wednesday and with all the drama surrounding the Oilers and their current 2-6-2 slide, my hard earned cash is on the Maple Leafs tonight. Toronto is without forward Ondrej Kase but appears to have everyone else in the lineup, including Auston Matthews who produced enough negative COVID tests to get the green light to play. While your return won't be anything to write home about, the play tonight is on the Maple Leafs.

St Louis Blues @ Pittsburgh Penguins

Proline + Odds: 
Blues (2.10) Penguins (1.76): 
The Penguins are the home favorites on Wednesday as the hottest team in the NHL welcomes a Blues team fresh off a huge win at the Winter Classic in Minnesota. While the Penguins have won eight in a row, the Blues are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. Two strong teams, both well coached, in what will certainly be a very close matchup. Two factors here that sways my pick. The Blues are playing great and are getting Brayden Schenn back on Wednesday. Meanwhile the Penguins have announced Casey DeSmith as the starting goaltender. He almost blew a 6-1 lead earlier this week and has a .894 save percentage this season to go with his 3-3-1 record. Tonight I am on the Blues at 2.10. Great value against a goaltender that has struggled this season.

That's it from me as the inaugural MONEY ON THE BOARD is in the books. I'm super excited about this column and let's hope we become friends this NHL season. It all starts at 7pm eastern tonight!

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