NHL Best Bets 1/3

Welcome to 2025! With nearly half way of the NHL season now wrapped up it will be important to be extra sharp with our plays to keep stacking units. Whether you use straights to fuel parlays or use them to stack units we keep delivering the goods at Betting News. And today will be no different. We are now a 21-21 record over the last 14 articles with a positive unit size due to plenty of plus money plays cashing. Let’s keep rolling in 2025 and stack more, and more and more green!

We will be breaking down NHL best bets here at Betting News all season! Each article will look for VALUE, as in straights you can take to build up your bankroll or pieces you can use to beef up your parlays. All bets will be -135 or better odds. And while we will focus on NHL player props, there are times we will take sides and totals. So keep your eyes peeled here as we will drop these throughout the week.

And if you haven’t already be sure to check out some of my favorite futures and awards. So time to lace them up and get ready to ride with Betzky for my favorite NHL best bets for 1/3/2025!

1. Leon Draisaitl Goal -110 on BetOnline:

This is a chalky one, but at plus money it’s impossible not to want to play. Leon Draisaitl might be the top Duck hunter in the entire league. Over his career he has 26 goals and 22 assists through those 34 games. That means he has a goal in 76% of all games against the Anaheim Ducks. Do we even need to go further into this NHL best bet?

Well ok then, we will dive deeper. Not only does Draisaitl have an amazing goalscoring record against the Ducks, he is one of the top goalscorers in the league. He has a goal in 59% of ALL games this season In fact he leads the entire league with 27 goals this season and should be considered a great bet for the Rocket Richard award (top goalscorer of the season).

In his last 12 games against the Ducks, Leon has scored 14 times with 4 multi-goal games. The Ducks are allowing the 13th most goals against per game played over the last ten games. It is even worth sprinkling Draisaitl’s multi-goal prop at +500.

Get 50% up to $750 Deposit on BetOnline for this pick

2. Aaron Ekblad o2.5 SOG +120 on BetOnline:

I love playing Sherlock Holmes and unveiling why certain players dominant certain teams. Perhaps they were snubbed in the draft, or the opposing team was the team they scored their first goal against, or maybe some of their favorite “fans” live in that city. But one that has been a mystery to me is Aaron Ekblad’s dominance against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ekblad has hit his SOG (shots on goal) prop in 7 of the last 10 games against the Penguins. But this goes back even further, hitting in 15 of his last 20 games against Pittsburgh. He averages 6 shot attempts per game over the last 10 against them, nearly an entire shot more than his most recent 10 games. Not only does his history makes this an NHL best bet, but so does the match.

Pittsburgh are allowing the 5th most shots against to defensemen while playing on the road this season. Ekblad plays on the top power play unit and is averaging 23.6 minutes of ice time a game. All the stars align for Ekblad to fire pucks tonight.

Get 50% up to $750 Deposit on BetOnline for this pick

3. Evgeni Malkin Point +120 on BetOnline:

Staying in the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins game, there is another prop that hold great value. And while the Penguins core is aging, players like Malkin have still be productive. While not at his level of play at his peak, Malkin still has a point in 46% of all games this season with 31 points in total. And he just so happens to love playing against the Panthers.

Over the course of his 46 career games against the Panthers, Malkin has 18 goals and 32 assists. That’s a whopping 50 points in 46 games. This is a trend that has continued as of late, with Malkin hitting his point prop in 6 of the last 8 games with 10 points in those games. While he isn’t on the top power play unit anymore he still can drive mismatches on the 2nd line and 2nd power play unit.

The 2nd power play unit is no slouch either. It consists of Erik Karlsson and recent pickup Philip Tomasino. Malkin also plays with Michael Bunting who has 5 goals and 4 assists in his last 10 games. The Panthers played last night, losing to the Hurricanes and have given up 16 goals in the last 5 games. This is a great plus money play, making Malkin point an NHL best bet tonight.

Get 50% up to $750 Deposit on BetOnline for this pick

Interested in More Content?

More NHL Content on Betting News:

• NHL Betting Guide
• NHL Futures Best Bets – Atlantic Division
• NHL Futures Best Bets – Metro Division
• NHL Awards – Hart Trophy
• NHL Awards – Norris Trophy
• NHL Awards – Vezina Trophy