Easter typically marks the first or second weekend of the NHL Playoffs, the start of a two-month stretch during which I spend every night watching teams leave it all on the ice in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.
I remember Tomas Hertl's second-overtime goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019 on Easter Sunday and Alexander Radulov's OT marker against the New York Rangers in 2017 on Good Friday. And, if I really want to date myself, I remember watching Martin St. Louis score in the third overtime in Game 6 of the first round to knock out the Washington Capitals in 2003.
However, we're still six weeks from playoff hockey. The games might not carry the same intensity this Easter weekend, but let's be thankful we have hockey at all.
Flames (+130) at Oilers (-150)
April 2, 9 p.m. ET
This looks like it should be a prime spot for the Edmonton Oilers to bounce back at home against their struggling rivals. But it's really a tough one for the Oilers, who've been on road since March 21. They spent five days in a state of limbo with their three games against the Montreal Canadiens postponed before a tough two-game set in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Edmonton then flew back to Montreal for the second half of a back-to-back against a rested Canadiens team.
The Oilers now play at home for the first time in 13 days, a typically tough spot for teams, and one they've struggled in. Edmonton has spent more than a week on the road twice this season, and both times it lost its first game back at home. This is especially tricky as it comes against a desperate Calgary Flames team that's been off since Monday.
Calgary is six points back of a playoff spot with four more games played than the team it's chasing. It's been tough to gauge which Flames side is going to show up on a nightly basis, but I expect a spirited effort by Calgary against its in-province rival after an extended rest. The fact that the Flames are catching the Oilers in a tough spot is an added bonus.
Pick: Flames (+130)
Blackhawks (+110) at Predators (-130)
April 3, 3 p.m.
The Chicago Blackhawks were a great story for much of the first half, but fans aren't going to like how this fairytale ends. These teams are tied for fourth in the Central ahead of Saturday's meeting but are trending in entirely opposite directions.
Chicago has lost nine of its last 13, and the underlying metrics are even uglier. Since March 5, the Blackhawks are last in the NHL with a miserable 38.9% expected goal share at five-on-five.
Meanwhile, the Nashville Predators are finally playing like the team many expected them to be this season. Winners of eight of their last 10, they're now firmly back in the playoff mix. They've posted a really strong 52.57% share of the expected goals at five-on-five since March 8, clearly turning a corner from the club that looked set to be stripped for parts in late February.
The gulf was very apparent when these teams met last weekend for a two-game set in Chicago, with the banged-up Predators winning both. Nashville owned a 58.7 xGF%, 57.97% CF%, and 63.41 HDCF% in those games, and there's no reason to expect any different as they get set to meet again.
Pick: Predators (-130)
Blue Jackets at Panthers (N/A)
April 4, 5 p.m.
These Central Division rivals meet twice this weekend, so take note that this is for Sunday's game. Projecting NHL starting goalies is often a fool's errand, but it feels relatively safe to assume Sergei Bobrovsky will get the call in the first game of this back-to-back, with Chris Driedger going on Sunday after starting Thursday's win against the Detroit Red Wings. That's the hope, as I feel much better backing the Florida Panthers these days with Driedger in goal.
Both Aleksander Barkov and Patric Hornqvist are also expected back at some point this weekend, with Sunday a much safer bet that both will be in the lineup. The Panthers' five-on-five numbers have dipped without the pair, but this is a dominant team with those two, and it appears we can get it at a reasonable price in this game.
The lookahead line is a bit short, and that's largely down to recency bias. The Columbus Blue Jackets were quite competitive in their two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it's important not to have short-term memory in this business. This is the same team that looked lifeless in losing a pair to the Red Wings last weekend and has posted a 42.3 xGF% at five-on-five since March 7, the third-worst mark in the league.
Pick: Panthers (-150 or better)
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, despises how the NHL handles starting goalie announcements, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
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