Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week – October 16th, 2023

We have finished the first week or so of the 2022-23 NHL regular season and what have we learned? Well, two things for sure: Toronto’s Auston Matthews is really good, and the Edmonton Oilers really need a better goaltender. Here are two intriguing matchups to watch early this week featuring each.

Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week (October 16th, 2023)

A new NHL season is upon us.

Based on, well, not much yet, which team claimed the top spot in the first-week's list?

Let’s overreact after three days of games.

NHL Power Rankings ⤵️https://t.co/EQeDN47N0c

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 13, 2023

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

• When: Monday, October 16th, 2023, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada
• TV: NHLPP,
• Radio: WGR 550 AM (Blackhawks) // TSN 1050 (Maple Leafs)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NHL Betting Odds: Blackhawks (+1.5) // Maple Leafs (+1.5)

It’s always a tough ticket to see a Leafs game in Toronto but likely even more so Monday as Blackhawks rookie sensation Connor Bedard makes his only visit of the season, and on the other side Leafs star Auston Matthews could become the first player in NHL history with three straight hat tricks.

Chicago, yet to play at home, dropped to 1-2 with Saturday’s 3-2 loss in Montreal. Bedard had an assist and became the 10th player age 18 or younger in NHL history with a season-opening point streak of 3+ games. He joined Alexandre Daigle (7 GP in 1993-94 w/ OTT), Sidney Crosby (6 GP in 2005-06 w/ PIT), Wayne Gretzky (6 GP in 1979-80 w/ EDM), Ted Kennedy (5 GP in 1943-44 w/ TOR), Sean Monahan (5 GP in 2013-14 w/ CGY), Eddie Olczyk (4 GP in 1984-85 w/ CHI), Nathan MacKinnon (3 GP in 2013-14 w/ COL), Bud Poile (3 GP in 1942-43 w/ TOR) and Pierre Larouche (3 GP in 1974-75 w/ PIT).

Bedard also was the 10th No. 1 overall pick to get at least a point in each of his first three NHL games with Ovechkin (8 GP), Alexandre Daigle (7 GP), Crosby (6 GP), Eric Lindros (5 GP), Billy Harris (3 GP), Dale McCourt (3 GP), Mario Lemieux (3 GP), John Tavares (3 GP) and MacKinnon (3 GP).

Tyler Johnson had both goals in Saturday’s loss. Fellow top line forward Taylor Hall expects to play Monday. Hall was a full participant in Sunday’s practice after suffering a shoulder injury in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to Boston. He didn’t play in Saturday’s loss.

The Leafs have totaled 13 goals so far in starting 2-0 and Auston Matthews has had back-to-back hat tricks — no player has ever had three in a row. He is the fifth player in NHL history to score three or more goals in each of their first two games to start the season, joining Ovechkin (2017-18), Cy Denneny (1917-18), Joe Malone (1917-18) and Reg Noble (1917-18). Saturday was the ninth hat trick of Matthews’ career, tying Noble for fifth on the Maple Leafs all-time hat trick list. Since entering the League in 2016-17, Matthews has scored a League-leading 305 goals, eight more than the next-closest skater over that span (Ovechkin: 297).

Fellow forward William Nylander has opened a season with back-to-back multi-point games for the first time in his nine-season career. The Leafs will start backup Joseph Noll in net Monday for the first time this season. During a limited run with the Leafs last year, Woll had a 6-1-0 record and a .932 save percentage. With Matt Murray (hip) expected to miss the majority of the season, Woll is firmly entrenched as Toronto’s backup netminder.

Chicago and Toronto split last year, each winning at home.

NHL Betting Pick: Maple Leafs

Edmonton Oilers vs. Nashville Predators

• When: Tuesday, October 17th, 2023, 8:00 PM ET
• Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
• TV: NHLPP, ESPN+
• Radio: 630 CHED AM (Oilers) // 102.5 The Game (Predators)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NHL Betting Odds: TBA

The Oilers are so fun to watch offensively with Connor McDavid, but they are 0-2 because the goaltending is simply not good.

“I think there’s a little bit of frustration. Obviously, you want to start 2-0, not 0-2, but in my opinion I believe adversity never kills you. I think it makes you a lot stronger, and for us to face it early on might be a really good thing for the long term. So it just really depends on how we bounce back from this and it determines how we bounce back from any adversity that we’re going to encounter moving on, because we will face adversity,” goaltender Stuart Skinner said.

In Saturday’s 4-3 home loss to Vancouver, McDavid scored a goal on eight shots, dished an assist, logged four hits and added two penalty minutes. Both of McDavid’s points came on power plays in the second period. He tied the game at 2-2 with his goal and also helped out on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tally midway through the frame. McDavid has been solid with three points, 10 shots and six hits through two games, but he also has four PIM and a minus-4 rating.

McDavid (10-6—16 in 9 GP) is the fourth active player with 10 career goals in a home openers contested by his team(s), joining Alex Ovechkin (20-10—30 in 18 GP), Steven Stamkos (11-12—23 in 16 GP) and Sidney Crosby (10-13—23 in 16 GP). Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak against the Canucks to 20 games and became the first player since Joe Sakic (20 GP vs. PIT) with a run of that length against a single franchise.

Nashville comes off a 3-2 loss in Boston on Saturday. Colton Sissons scored both goals for the Predators (1-2) and Juuse Saros made 28 stops. Saros has played all their games so far this season. He has only allowed one goal at 5-on-5 through three games this season. Nashville went 0 for 7 on the power play.

“I think both sides of the special teams left wanting more tonight,” Sissons said. “We had a lot of opportunities on the power play, but we’ve got to do our job on the penalty kill.”

Edmonton won two of three in this series last year.

NHL Betting Pick: Predators

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READ MORE: Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week – October 23rd, 2023