With the NHL schedule being dismantled by the Omicron variant of COVID-19, we’re down to two games on the slate for Wednesday, January 5, 2022: Edmonton Oilers at Toronto Maple Leafs (7 pm ET) & St. Louis Blues at Pittsburgh Penguins (7:30 pm ET), the latter of which will be on TNT.
In this article, I will provide my top two hockey picks tonight to make a maximum profit.
Our Favorite NHL Picks Today (1/5/22)
Edmonton Oilers at Toronto Maple Leafs – TOTAL: 6
NHL Pick: Maple Leafs -1.5 (-125)
This is a seemingly huge moneyline number for the Maple Leafs tonight, coming in at a massive -290. And it makes plenty of sense, considering the Oilers look all out of sorts at the moment, losing each of their last four games and allowing a total of 17 goals.
Wednesday will be the final leg of a five-game road trip that spanned from coast to coast. The Oilers probably just want this trip to be over, and the Maple Leafs can arrange for that to happen in a rough way. Whenever you see an NHL team getting something like -125 on the puck line, it probably means that an ass-kicking is on deck.
St. Louis Blues at Pittsburgh Penguins – TOTAL: 6
NHL Pick: Blues ML (+120)
This will be a good game between two very talented teams. Over the last five games, the Penguins have won five times and the Blues four times.
I’m taking the Blues in this one, considering we need some underdog-loving, and I don’t see it coming from the Oilers. The Blues have scored four goals in each of their four wins, and I could even see this one turning into a bit of a shootout. I’ll give the advantage to St. Louis in that regard.
