NHL Betting – Wednesday, April 12 Picks

If there ever was a calm before the storm this is it. In the penultimate day of the official National Hockey League regular season, only three games dot the schedule for Wednesday, April 12 giving us limited NHL game picks. There is a level of importance to every game, though. The New York Islanders and Calgary Flames enter the week still in contention for a wild card spot in their respective conference while the Dallas Stars have hopes of winning the Central Division. The Islanders and Flames are the only teams playing their final regular season contest on Wednesday making points in those games a necessity as favorites at BetRivers sportsbook against struggling opponents.

Daily NHL Picks

Montreal Canadiens at New York Islanders

While the Islanders continue to battle for a playoff spot, the Canadiens have long since been eliminated from the postseason discussion. The Isles are battling with several clubs for the two wild card spots and unfortunately they do not control their own destiny. They trail Florida by a point in the race for the first wild card and have just a point bulge on Pittsburgh for the second spot after losing a critical contest 5-2 to Washington on Monday.

All New York can do is put pressure on the other clubs by increasing its point total with a win over the Habs, but even that’s been tough with Monday’s loss New York’s third in the last five games. Though they have one of the worst scoring units in the NHL, the strong play of Ilya Sorokin in net has allowed the Islanders to stay in the race. However, everything failed on Monday leaving the Islanders in a precarious spot. It was baffling how they played with so much on the line, allowing three first period goals and not finding the back of the net until late in the third period against a team playing shorthanded. With no wiggle room now I do expect the Islanders to play with more of a sense of urgency and they won’t take their opponent lightly.

NHL Free Pick: New York Islanders

Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues

With such a light schedule we’re going to touch on every game since there is importance to at least one team in each contest. The team looking to better its position in this one is Dallas, who got overtaken in the Central by the red hot Avalanche. The Stars still have a shot at winning the division and catch a break with back to back games against the struggling Blues, who are 37-36-7 on the year. The Stars beat Detroit, 6-1, on Monday for their fourth straight win and dominated St. Louis when the teams played earlier.

In a typical Stars routine they shut down the Blues offense and got timely scoring in the 4-1 victory. Dallas is strong on both ends of the ice with their plus-63 goal differential the highest in the Western Conference and second-best overall. With five players scoring more than 70 points, the Stars have balance up and down the roster that makes it difficult for teams to defend. And the Blues give up a lot of chances and a lot of goals.

NHL Free Pick: Dallas Stars

San Jose Sharks at Calgary Flames

There is some happy news out of San Jose in an otherwise dreary season. With two goals against Winnipeg on Monday night, Erik Karlsson became the first defensemen since 1992 to score 100 points in a season. It didn’t help as the Sharks lost their fourth straight, 6-2. The rebuild continues and Karlsson likely won’t be around when the club is competitive again, but he’s been the only bright spot on a team that’s struggled to score goals. Outside of EK and top line players Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl, the team has no punch. They rank 25th with an average of 2.88 goals.

Losing their last two games to Vancouver and Nashville in the shootout officially eliminated Calgary from playoff consideration. Still, they’ve dominated San Jose winning three earlier meetings by a combined score of 17-8 and they won’t be denied in this one against a club that just isn’t good.

NHL Free Pick: San Jose Sharks / Calgary Flames OVER

Check out the latest NHL betting odds at BetRivers.