It looks like a mismatch in the NHL on Wednesday when the excellent Carolina Hurricanes visit the struggling Chicago Blackhawks. Which way to lean at BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks?
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 – 08:30 PM ET at United Center
Four games on Wednesday’s NHL schedule and Hurricanes-Blackhawks appear to be the biggest mismatch of them as unbeaten Carolina might be the league’s best team and one-win Chicago its worst.
The Hurricanes are +200 favorites on the NHL futures odds to win the Metropolitan Division, +450 to win the Eastern Conference and +1000 for the Stanley Cup. There’s really no point giving Chicago’s odds because the Hawks aren’t making the playoffs in the midst of a major rebuild both on the ice and in the front office.
Chicago visited Carolina on Oct. 29 and lost 6-3 – there were six goals scored in the first period, four by the Hurricanes. Tony DeAngelo, Jordan Staal, Derek Stepan, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov had the Hurricanes goals and Antti Raanta made 23 saves and was a winner in his Carolina debut. Brandon Hagel, Adam Gaudette and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks, and Kevin Lankinen stopped 29 shots.
The home team is 6-2 on the NHL picks in the past eight meetings.
At 8-0-0, the Hurricanes are off to the best start in franchise history and are the only team without a loss. Their goals differential of plus-21 is also the NHL’s best as of this writing. Carolina is tied for second in scoring at 4.13 goals per game and No. 1 in goals-against average at 1.50. That, my friends, is a recipe for success. The Canes also rank No. 4 on the power play (28.1 percent) and No. 4 on the penalty kill (88.9 percent). Hard to find any flaws. Not a single player on the team has a negative plus/minus rating.
The Canes have been off since beating Anaheim 2-1 on Sunday. Goaltender Frederik Andersen didn’t have a great season last year with the Maple Leafs and was often hurt, but Carolina took a free-agent chance on him this offseason and it has paid off big time so far as he improved to 7-0-0 with a 1.29 GAA (second in NHL). Needless to say, that’s not sustainable.
Two seven-game points streaks ended Sunday: By Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho. Svechnikov leads the team with seven goals and 11 points. Aho has 10 points.
The Canes aren’t even whole right now. Winger Nino Niederreiter is out with a lower-body injury suffered in the first Chicago game. He has three goals in seven games. Seth Jarvis, the No. 13 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut in place of Niederreiter on Sunday and had an assist.
The Hurricanes are 9-3 on NHL picks after scoring two goals or fewer in their previous game.
This has been maybe the worst season in Blackhawks history not just because of the 1-7-2 record but also the front office was cleaned out last week in the wake of how the team handled sexual assault allegations against former video coach Brad Aldrich during the 2010 Stanley Cup run. The NHL also fined the franchise $2 million. Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, the Hawks’ coach back then, also resigned.
Because there has been so much negativity around the team, the players celebrated like they won a playoff game on Monday night when they beat Ottawa 5-1 for their first victory of the season. Star and former Hart Trophy winner Patrick Kane returned after missing a handful of games in COVID protocols and had a hat trick.
With his three goals and four points, Kane passed Steve Larmer for third in franchise history with 408 goals and Denis Savard for third with 1,097 points. Captain Jonathan Toews registered a season-high three points in the win. Toews has six points in his last five games after going pointless in his first five – but still doesn’t have a goal. Brandon Hagel scored a pair of goals. Future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury got off to a terrible start this season but now has allowed just one goal in back-to-back games.
Chicago still has some COVID/injury issues with forwards Tyler Johnson, Henrik Borgstrom, Jujhar Khaira and defenseman Riley Stillman, although those latter two were at practice Tuesday so maybe they can play Wednesday.
The Blackhawks are 1-7 on NHL odds in their past eight as home dogs. They aren’t as bad as they’ve played, but Carolina is good value at a fairly low moneyline price.
NHL Pick: Hurricanes at -140 with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.