NHL Best Bets and Betting Picks: January 22nd
What a great weekend of NHL betting and now we move into another week! With the NHL All Star break coming in early February you are going to start seeing the cream rise to the top as every game is starting to mean that much more. This sentiment is reflected in the picks today as I have two great road teams winning on the Money Line and that's all given the 6 game slate and you know that we don't force bets here! If you like the rationale then tail the picks, if you don't feel free to fade as sometimes the best bets are the ones not taken!
- Season Record: 81-66-3
- Bankroll: +9.05 units
- Dog of the Day Record: 7-9 (+1.4 Units)
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**all bets are one unit unless specifically mentioned.
NHL Best Bets for January 22nd
Pittsburgh Penguins at Arizona Coyotes
For the first and only time this NHL regular season the Pens are backing their bags and heading out to the desert to take on the Coyotes! This should be a fun matchup as one side is much older and the other team is full of young future stars of the game. I lean the Penguins in this one though as they've been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since the start of 2024 grabbing points in 8 of their past 11 games and it appears that Tristan Jarry may be back. Jarry leads the leage in shutouts this season with 5 and has allowed just 10 goals over his past 5 starts and holding down a SV% north of .920%. Considering the Coyotes have only scored 2.6 goals per game over the past 30 days at home this could be a issue for them, especially when Pittsburgh has scored 4.2 goals per game on the road during that span. Going to have to eat some chalk for the Money Line but I think the Penguins get the job done tonight and win outright.
Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins Money Line (-140 on BetMGM)
Florida Panthers at Nashville Predators
I will say the Predators have surprised me this season and I pegged them for a team rebuilding but now over halfway through the season they are in the thick of the playoff hunt. I still don't see them as a top team though given the metrics and the fact that they are just a +1 in goal differential on the season but somehow have 25 wins on the season. That has me eyeing up the Panthers tonight because they are an elite team but are riding a 4 game losing streak and the books are down on them giving good value tonight. The Panthers have been a good road team as well with a 14-7-2 mark on the season and have scored 4.8 goals per game over the past month while allowing just 1.8 goals on the road. The margins are just pretty far apart for me tonight and getting the Panthers on the Money Line should cost us more on the odds but it won't so sign me up for a Florida Panthers Money Line!
Pick: Florida Panthers Money Line (-120 on Caesars)
Player News
The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo believes RB Kaleb Johnson is a “schematic fit” for the Steelers offense.
Johnson, a third-round draft pick who last month was listed as a co-starter alongside Jaylen Warren on the Pittsburgh depth chart, was a hyper-productive back in Iowa’s zone-based rushing scheme, a system used frequently in Arthur Smith’s run-first offense. Only three college running backs in 2024 logged more zone rushes than Johnson. Johnson’s goals in offseason practices, according to DeFabo, “are to learn the playbook and earn the coaching staff’s trust with the hope of becoming an ‘every-down back’ sooner rather than later.” That might require Johnson to improve his pass blocking. The rookie said he’s worked on that with Warren — one of the best blocking backs in the NFL — in recent days.
The Chiefs will play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
The Week 13 matchup will bring Patrick Mahomes and the AFC champion Chiefs to Dallas for the day’s late afternoon game. It could be a shootout if key players on both sides are healthy. Dak Prescott heads into the season with George Pickens as a legit WR2 behind CeeDee Lamb, and Mahomes — who has talked this offseason about more explosive plays for the KC offense — will have Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, and Hollywood Brown at his disposal. Mahomes has faced Dallas once in his NFL career, a Week 11 win in 2021 in which he threw for 260 scoreless yards. The hope for both the league and fantasy managers is that the Cowboys are still in postseason contention by the end of November.
J.P. Crawford singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th as the Mariners edged the Yankees 2-1 on Tuesday.
Crawford was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts before his liner to left barely dropped into fair territory and plated the automatic runner in the 11th. It gave him his first RBI in nine games. He’s currently hitting .271/.378/.364 for the season.
Bryan Woo blanked the Yankees for 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision Tuesday.
Woo has come up big for the Mariners in pitching at least six innings every time out this season and going 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA. The 1-0 lead he left with tonight didn’t hold up, but the Mariners did prevail in extra innings to move to 6-2 in Woo’s starts. He’ll face the White Sox next time out.
Andrés Muñoz was charged with a blown save after giving up an unearned run in the ninth Tuesday against the Yankees.
Muñoz created his own trouble by hitting Paul Goldschmidt to start the ninth, but that was the only mistake he made as a pair of grounders went on to score pinch-runner Pablo Reyes. Muñoz still hasn’t given up an earned run this season.
Max Fried allowed one run over five innings before being lifted against the Mariners on Tuesday.
Fried needed 91 pitches to get his 15 outs, so he didn’t come back out for the sixth. Still, he was effective in allowing four hits and striking out five. He’ll take a 1.11 ERA into his next start, which will likely come Sunday against the Mets.