NHL Betting Guide: Tuesday 1/31/23

The NHL schedule has slowed considerably approaching this weekend's All-Star Game, but I still plucked a one-star wager from today's recommendations.

Let's dive in.

Note: Lines are subject to change throughout the day after this article is published. All ratings are out of five stars. All NHL betting odds and totals come from FanDuel Sportsbook.

Los Angeles Kings at Carolina Hurricanes

Under 6.0 (-110) - 1 Star

We'll need to lock in goaltending news on this guy before an official bet, but all appears to be trending in the right direction.

Frederik Andersen was injured last Thursday, but he's still the expected starter for tonight's game against the Kings. They'll need him in one of these two next contests given Carolina -- unfathomably with two dozen teams inactive -- finishes a back-to-back versus Buffalo tomorrow.

Andersen is a huge boost for the Canes' defense. On top of posting 2.29 goals saved above expectation (GSAx) during this injury-riddled year, he was second in the NHL with 28.46 GSAx last year. He's a solid netminder.

On the other side, Pheonix Copley has quelled the Los Angeles goaltending issues a bit. Copley hasn't played exceptionally (0.66 GSAx), but in comparison to either Jonathan Quick (-13.48 GSAx) or Calvin Petersen (-10.12 GSAx), he's been a tremendous source of relief.

These are two of the best defenses in hockey in front of them. Carolina allows the fewest expected goals per 60 minutes in the NHL (2.64), and Los Angeles allows the sixth-fewest (2.85). When they clash with decent goaltending, the under is almost always the look.

Getting just 34% of bets and 28% of the money, I like this contrarian under. Our model slightly agrees, assigning it a 57.9% chance to at least push this number at six versus the 52.5% implied odds. With any luck, this number will improve throughout the afternoon.