by Chuck Sommers
Saturday, Feb 25, 2023
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Venue: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Where to watch: CITY, SNW, SNP, NESN
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Bruins -265, Canucks +225
FanDuel: Bruins -275, Canucks +220
BetMGM: Bruins -250, Canucks +200
Caesars: Bruins -270, Canucks +215
Season record
Bruins: 44-8-5
Canucks: 23-30-5
The All-Star break is over, the second half of the NHL season can officially begin, and we're bound for what should be a very exciting second half of the hockey season. Basketball and hockey are about to rule the roost in the sports betting world once the Super Bowl is done with, and we should all be very excited for what's to come. When the trade deadline hits and players switch teams, you know things are about to get hectic over these final 30 games or so. One way you can stay tuned with the action is following what our champion handicappers are doing in the world of the NHL. Look at ASA, Inc., reeling in a $6,750 profit off a 17-9-0 run. Al McMordie is also doing well on the ice with a 13-5-0 run and a net profit of $6,050. Scott Rickenbach has also been hanging strong with a lot of betting action, in what's been an unusual year, with a 24-18-0 run and reeling in $5,950. You know this action is going to be great now that games are back and a busy second half if on the horizon. All you need to do is head to our BEST BETS page at bigal.com to find out all of what we're trying to tell you. Make sure you're locked in at bigal.com and go to our Best Bets page to find out what our champion handicappers have to say in the world of the NHL!
Bruins - Canucks preview, prediction and analysis
The Boston Bruins will be playing the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, February 24 in Vancouver.
The Boston Bruins won against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, February 23 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington with a score of 6-5. The Boston Bruins currently rank 1st in the Atlantic Division.
David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (44-8-5), who opened a four-game road trip. Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves.
"They caused some problems for us, especially in the first period. We were lucky to [be] down one after the first," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "I thought we got our game going, but we started skating and started processing a lot quicker offensively and defensively. But mistakes happen. They made us pay for our mistakes. I just loved our compete level and how resilient we were all night."
Matty Beniers gave Seattle a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the first period when he finished a 3-on-1 with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Krejci tied it 1-1 at 11:18 on a one-timer from Pavel Zacha in the left circle.
Vince Dunn scored his 10th goal of the season at 1:17 of the second period after a face-off win by Alex Wennberg to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead, but Pastrnak tied it 2-2 at 2:23, powering his way around Adam Larsson before scoring on a wrist shot.
Philipp Grubauer kept the game tied when he lunged across the crease to make a glove save against Marchand at 6:54, but Marchand gave Boston a 3-2 lead at 8:49 when he was left alone at the right post to score on a rebound.
Jamie Oleksiak tied it 3-3 at 9:47 with a wrist shot from the right circle after a feed from Morgan Geekie.
"It was a lot of fun," Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton said. "Obviously, it kind of went off the rails a little bit. We're not as used to those high-scoring games, [but] either way it was fun, it was electric, but we prevailed. We came out with two points, and that's what you want."
Bergeron put Boston back in front 4-3 with a short-handed goal at 17:51, moments after he stole the puck from Dunn at the Bruins blue line.
Yanni Gourde tied it 4-4 on the same power play at 18:53, scoring from the right post on a shot that went off McAvoy's stick.
Jake DeBrusk broke a tie with 1:38 remaining in the third period, giving Boston the win. DeBrusk scored the go-ahead goal when he positioned himself in the left face-off circle to redirect Charlie McAvoy's wrist shot near the left point.
"It was obviously a crazy atmosphere," DeBrusk said. "The ups and downs and everything, the lead changes. It was a good shift by us as a line at the end there. We battled for pucks and kind of made some bang-bang plays. It went to Charlie, and I knew it was going on net. I just tried to get wide positioning."
The Boston Bruins have won six of their last 10 games.
The Vancouver Canucks won against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, February 23 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri with a score of 3-2 in overtime. The Vancouver Canucks currently rank 6th in the Pacific Division.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, and Silovs made 20 saves for Vancouver (23-30-5), which is 2-0-1 in its past three games.
"I think we deserved the outcome, yes I do," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "We did a nice job in a lot of areas. It feels nice to let only two goals in. To win hockey games, you've got to defend well, and we did that."
St. Louis scored the first two goals of the game, giving them a 2-0 lead. Miller cut it to 2-1 at 9:08 of the third period with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Pettersson on a 2-on-1 while short-handed.
"We're willing to play a boring game sometimes and not risk changing our game to get results," Miller said. "It was easy to do that tonight.
"All these games are important. We've got guys fighting for jobs, we've got guys trying to prove something to the new coach. There's a lot to prove for every single guy in here. We got a lot of good play tonight from a lot of players."
Andrei Kuzmenko tied it 2-2 with 29 seconds left in the third period. He jammed in his own rebound from the edge of the crease with Arturs Silovs pulled for the extra skater.
Elias Pettersson scored with 15 seconds remaining in overtime to give Vancouver the win. Pettersson, who also had two assists, skated down the wing and snapped a shot from the left face-off circle glove side on Jordan Binnington.
"It was nice," Pettersson said. "I said five minutes earlier, I had 10 shots today I think, and never had that before. Felt good, but the puck wouldn't find the way in until the last shot I guess, so I'm happy with that."
The Vancouver Canucks have won four of their last 10 games.
Prediction
Yeah, this one's a no-doubter. Bruins 5, Canucks 2
The Boston Bruins won against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday, February 23 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington with a score of 6-5. The Boston Bruins currently rank 1st in the Atlantic Division.
David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (44-8-5), who opened a four-game road trip. Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves.
"They caused some problems for us, especially in the first period. We were lucky to [be] down one after the first," Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. "I thought we got our game going, but we started skating and started processing a lot quicker offensively and defensively. But mistakes happen. They made us pay for our mistakes. I just loved our compete level and how resilient we were all night."
Matty Beniers gave Seattle a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the first period when he finished a 3-on-1 with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Krejci tied it 1-1 at 11:18 on a one-timer from Pavel Zacha in the left circle.
Vince Dunn scored his 10th goal of the season at 1:17 of the second period after a face-off win by Alex Wennberg to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead, but Pastrnak tied it 2-2 at 2:23, powering his way around Adam Larsson before scoring on a wrist shot.
Philipp Grubauer kept the game tied when he lunged across the crease to make a glove save against Marchand at 6:54, but Marchand gave Boston a 3-2 lead at 8:49 when he was left alone at the right post to score on a rebound.
Jamie Oleksiak tied it 3-3 at 9:47 with a wrist shot from the right circle after a feed from Morgan Geekie.
"It was a lot of fun," Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton said. "Obviously, it kind of went off the rails a little bit. We're not as used to those high-scoring games, [but] either way it was fun, it was electric, but we prevailed. We came out with two points, and that's what you want."
Bergeron put Boston back in front 4-3 with a short-handed goal at 17:51, moments after he stole the puck from Dunn at the Bruins blue line.
Yanni Gourde tied it 4-4 on the same power play at 18:53, scoring from the right post on a shot that went off McAvoy's stick.
Jake DeBrusk broke a tie with 1:38 remaining in the third period, giving Boston the win. DeBrusk scored the go-ahead goal when he positioned himself in the left face-off circle to redirect Charlie McAvoy's wrist shot near the left point.
"It was obviously a crazy atmosphere," DeBrusk said. "The ups and downs and everything, the lead changes. It was a good shift by us as a line at the end there. We battled for pucks and kind of made some bang-bang plays. It went to Charlie, and I knew it was going on net. I just tried to get wide positioning."
The Boston Bruins have won six of their last 10 games.
The Vancouver Canucks won against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, February 23 at Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri with a score of 3-2 in overtime. The Vancouver Canucks currently rank 6th in the Pacific Division.
J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, and Silovs made 20 saves for Vancouver (23-30-5), which is 2-0-1 in its past three games.
"I think we deserved the outcome, yes I do," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "We did a nice job in a lot of areas. It feels nice to let only two goals in. To win hockey games, you've got to defend well, and we did that."
St. Louis scored the first two goals of the game, giving them a 2-0 lead. Miller cut it to 2-1 at 9:08 of the third period with a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Pettersson on a 2-on-1 while short-handed.
"We're willing to play a boring game sometimes and not risk changing our game to get results," Miller said. "It was easy to do that tonight.
"All these games are important. We've got guys fighting for jobs, we've got guys trying to prove something to the new coach. There's a lot to prove for every single guy in here. We got a lot of good play tonight from a lot of players."
Andrei Kuzmenko tied it 2-2 with 29 seconds left in the third period. He jammed in his own rebound from the edge of the crease with Arturs Silovs pulled for the extra skater.
Elias Pettersson scored with 15 seconds remaining in overtime to give Vancouver the win. Pettersson, who also had two assists, skated down the wing and snapped a shot from the left face-off circle glove side on Jordan Binnington.
"It was nice," Pettersson said. "I said five minutes earlier, I had 10 shots today I think, and never had that before. Felt good, but the puck wouldn't find the way in until the last shot I guess, so I'm happy with that."
The Vancouver Canucks have won four of their last 10 games.
Prediction
Yeah, this one's a no-doubter. Bruins 5, Canucks 2
Betting trends
Bruins are 19-3 after a non-conference game this season.
Canucks are 7-21 in non-conference games this season
Canucks are 4-13 after 2 straight road games this season.
Projected lines
Bruins:
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha - David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall -- Charlie Coyle -- Craig Smith
A.J. Greer -- Trent Frederic -- Nick Foligno
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha - David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall -- Charlie Coyle -- Craig Smith
A.J. Greer -- Trent Frederic -- Nick Foligno
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark
Canucks:
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha - David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall -- Charlie Coyle -- Craig Smith
A.J. Greer -- Trent Frederic -- Nick Foligno
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha - David Krejci -- David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall -- Charlie Coyle -- Craig Smith
A.J. Greer -- Trent Frederic -- Nick Foligno
Matt Grzelcyk -- Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort -- Connor Clifton
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
