Friday NHL Best Bets: Lightning, Flyers & the Best First Period Over

Friday NHL Best Bets Friday NHL Best Bets

After stuffing your face with turkey and all the fixings yesterday, how about your stuff your face with these Friday NHL Best Bets?

Best First Period Moneyline Bet: Tampa Bay Lightning -110, 3:07 p.m. ET

The Lightning have been profitable overall in the first period this season. They’re 11-4-6 in the opening 20 minutes of play, netting bettors a return on investment of 20.96%. They’ve also been strong in the first period of late, posting a 7-1-2 record over their last 10 games (41.73%).

As for their opponent today, the Predators have also been strong over their last 10 games (5-1-4, 36.10%). That said, this is not a confident Nashville team that Tampa Bay is playing today. The Predators have lost seven out of their last 10 games overall. I expect the Bolts to jump on them early.

Best First Period Total: Kraken-Sharks over 1.5 (-120), 3:37 p.m. ET

The first period over is now 7-3 in the Sharks’ last 10 games and has cashed in six out of the Kraken’s last 10 games as well. The first period over has also been profitable overall in San Jose games (15-10). Seattle is coming off a 5-2 loss to Anaheim and the Sharks cashed the over in both of their most recent games. Thus, these two teams have been playing in some higher-scoring games of late.

Best Game Moneyline Bet: Philadelphia Flyers +140, 1:00 p.m. ET

The Rangers have dominated the Flyers in previous meetings, winning eight out of the last 10 games between the rivals. However, the Flyers won the last game these two teams played in the 2023-24 season, posting a 4-1 victory at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers are also in a massive funk entering play today. With their 4-3 loss to the Hurricanes on Wednesday, the Rangers have lost four consecutive games. The Flyers, meanwhile, have won two out of their last three games, posting an outright upset of the Predators in Nashville on Wednesday.

Best Game Total Bet:  Blackhawks-Wild under 5.5, 2:00 p.m. ET

I know there’s not much room for error when it comes to this matchup, but I still see this game falling under the total. In the last 10 meetings between these two teams, the under is 8-1-1. In fact, you’d have to go all the way back to October 30, 2022 for the last time the over cashed in a Chicago-Minnesota matchup. That’s a span of eight games. The under is also 9-1 in the Blackhawks’ last 10 games overall and has cashed in back-to-back Minnesota contests.