Saturday's Top NHL Parlay Picks

Saturday night brings us another huge slate of NHL action. We’re looking to cash in early and add some safe favorites for tonight’s top NHL parlay picks.

There are a lucky 13 games on Saturday in the NHL with 11 starting at 7 p.m. ET or later. In particular, I’m expecting goals early in New Jersey and two home favorites to take care of business.

Here are my top parlay picks for Saturday’s NHL matchups (odds via BetMGM; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5 star scale).

Saturday's Top NHL Parlay Picks

Carolina Hurricanes-New Jersey Devils 1st period Over 1.5 (-135) ????Detroit Red Wings vs. Nashville Predators (-200) ?????Chicago Blackhawks vs. Minnesota Wild (-200) ?????

SEE ALSO: Saturday's Top NHL Prop Picks

Top NHL Parlay Predictions

Hurricanes-Devils 1st period Over 1.5 (-135)

The Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils are playing a lot of high-scoring first periods recently.

The Hurricanes have outscored opponents 17-11 in their last 10 first periods and the Devils aren't too far behind at a 13-10 advantage. The first period Over 1.5 has hit in nine of 10 for Carolina and seven of 10 for the Devils. In their last five, four of Carolina's first periods went over the total, as did three of New Jersey's.

Those trends should continue tonight to start our NHL parlay picks. The Canes scored two first-period goals on Friday night against the Rangers and a whopping five goals in the first period in Boston on Tuesday night.

Carolina is likely to start Jack Lafontaine, who allowed two goals on three shots in 15 minutes of action against the Blue Jackets last week. They could also turn to Frederik Andersen again. He made 20 saves on 23 shots on Friday night. It'll likely be Jon Gillies for the Devils, who is winless on the year with a .895 save percentage and a goals-against-average of 3. Those numbers are nothing to write home about.

The Canes should look to come out hot again and get a few in the first period. The Devils could get one themselves, especially if Lafontaine starts.

Predators (-200)

The Predators got back on track on Thursday night with a 5-2 win at home against the Jets. Meanwhile, the Red Wings played a tough game last night, losing 5-4 in overtime at home to the Dallas Stars. Detroit will be in action less than 24 hours after that one concluded, and the Wings had to travel down to Nashville.

That lack of rest on the road should give the Predators a huge advantage over the Red Wings. Nashville is 12-7-0 at home this season while Detroit is just 5-11-3 on the road. On top of that, Detroit is 1-3-1 on no days rest after a loss while the Predators are 6-4-1 on one-day rest after a win.

The Preds have a huge advantage in the crease tonight as well. Vezina Trophy candidate Juuse Saros (21-11-2, 2.42 GAA, .924 SV%) is projected to get the start for Nashville. Detroit will have to either start Alex Nedeljkovic on no days rest or Calvin Pickard (career .904 SV% in 113 games; 2-1-1, 3.16 GAA, .874 SV% last season with Detroit) with Thomas Greiss in COVID-19 protocol.

Nashville is heavy favorites here at -200, but the Preds have played too many close games –– as have the Wings –– to justify paying down for the puck line, especially in a parlay. Add a safe pick with the Predators on the moneyline for our NHL parlay.

Wild (-200)

The Wild beat the Blackhawks 5-1 in Chicago on Friday night and now the two teams meet in Minnesota. Both starting goalies played last night, leaving Kevin Lankinen (2-5-3, 3.38 GAA, .887 SV%) likely to tend goal for Chicago against Minnesota goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (8-2-2, 2.45 GAA, .923 SV%) who will be starting again.

Minnesota has the better goalie and the change of venue should do wonders as well. The Wild are 12-3-1 at home (11-7-2 on the road) while the Blackhawks are just 7-11-3 on the road (8-8-3 at home).

Friday night was the second straight defeat for Chicago, who lost 3-2 in a shootout in Seattle earlier this week. On the other hand, the Wild have won four of their last five games with the lone loss coming in the shootout against Colorado.

All signs point to another win for the Wild tonight.

Combined Odds: Hurricanes-Devils 1st period Over 1.5 (-135) + Predators (-200) + Wild (-200) = +291

SEE ALSO: All picks and odds. Be sure to check out SportsbookReview.com's community forums and betting tools.

NHL parlay picks made 1/22/2022 at 2:07 p.m. ET.