Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Saturday, April 18

NHL best bets for Senators vs Hurricanes, Wild vs Stars and Flyers vs Penguins, with expert picks, parlays and odds as the Stanley Cup playoff begin Saturday.

April 17, 2026

Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Saturday, April 18

By:

Daniel Dobish

April 17, 2026

NHL Picks

NHL Best Bets & Picks: Senators vs Hurricanes, Wild vs Stars & More – Expert Game Previews

The Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway Saturday, and it's a race to 16 wins, as we look to crown a new champion with the Florida Panthers failing to make the postseason field. We have three games on Saturday, and we'll preview all three games on Saturday's slate.

We'll provide single plays and parlay opportunities you could potentially pair with Saturday's MLB and NBA basketball action. Good luck with all of your plays! Let's get started.

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For the latest NHL Odds, including NHL Futures and NHL player props, visit RotoWire's NHL Betting page. For up-to-date NHL player news and NHL Injury Report info, head to RotoWire's NHL Lineups page. You can find more picks at Bookies.com/picks. Here are our NHL Best Bets today, featuring expert NHL picks for an action-packed slate of games.

Ottawa Senators at Carolina Hurricanes

The Senators and Hurricanes meet in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven first-round series, and this is the first time Ottawa and Carolina have met in the postseason.

Ottawa ended up with 99 points, and that was good for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. If the Senators were in the Pacific Division, they would have won the division by four points.

Carolina notched 113 points, good for the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference, and it was the first time the Hurricanes secured the top seed in franchise history.

The Senators went 21-15-5 on the road, losing 4-3 in Raleigh in the only meeting at Lenovo center on Feb. 3 as the Hurricanes cashed (-178) as huge favorites as the Over (6.5) cashed. The teams split the final two meetings in Canada's capital city.

Linus Ullmark (28-12-8, 2.73 GAA, .890 SV%, 3 SO) and Frederik Andersen (16-14-5, 3.05 GAA, .874 SV%) are expected to be starting goaltenders. Let's back the Hurricanes to get the job done in a low-scoring opening game. In fact, go rather aggressively on the Under if you can find a 6.5-goal line.

Hurricanes ML (-148 DraftKings Sportsbook)
Under 6.5 (-135 at DraftKings and Fanatics Sportsbooks)

Don't make any bets on your favorite sports betting apps without first consulting the latest NHL odds.

Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars

The Wild and Stars meet in a crazy first-round matchup. Dallas finished second in the Central Division with 112 points, the third-most points in the NHL, but nine points back of the Colorado Avalanche. Minnesota ended up with 104 points, yet that was good enough for third in the Central.

Dallas closed out the regular season with five straight wins, including a wild 5-4 win over Minnesota at American Airlines Center on April 9 as the Over (6) cashed. Both Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston notched goals in that win, and both players led the team with 45 goals on the season. Kirill Kaprizov had a couple of power-play goals, two of three PPGs for the Wild, in the losing effort.

These teams split the four regular-season matchups, with the home team going a perfect 4-0. That makes us think this is going to be a series that goes seven, and hockey fans certainly hope that's the case. This could be a very entertaining series. The Over cashed in three of the four meetings, with an average of 6.5 goals per game (GPG) in the season series.

We'll certainly go with Over in Game 1, but look for defense and animosity to pick up as the season goes along. We'll side with the home-team trend, too.

Stars ML (-120 at Bet365, BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings and Fanatics Sportsbooks)
Over 5.5 (-120 at BetMGM Sportsbook)

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins

The Flyers and Penguins meet for the eighth time ever in the poseason. The Flyers have won four of those series. The last time these Keystone State rivals met came in the first round of the 2018 playoffs, with the Penguins winning in six games. The last time these Flyers won, also came in six games, advancing out of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

The Flyers closed out the season with three straight wins, while going 6-1-0 in the final seven outings, while the Under had a 3-2-2 edge in that span.

The Penguins tumbled in the final three games, although they were basically locked into their seed, and they rested some key personnel to get them a little healthier heading into this series.

In four regular-season meetings, the teams split 2-2, with the road team winning on each other's ice two times. Two of the games were decided in a shootout, too, both going in favor of Philadelphia. We obviously don't do shootouts in the playoffs, but that could bode well for lovers of those long, dramatic OT games in the postseason.

We'll back the Flyers in the opener, as they look for the road upset. Philly was on fire to close out the season, while the Penguins have to snap back on track after coasting to the finish line. Let's go high on the total, too, as we had an average of 7.3 combined goals per game in the final three meetings.