Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Sunday, December 14

Daniel Dobish pores through the 6 game NHL card today and shares his best picks, including plays on the Canucks-Devils and Sabres-Kraken games

December 14, 2025

Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Sunday, December 14

By:

Daniel Dobish

December 14, 2025

NHL Picks

NHL Best Bets & Picks: Canucks vs Devils and Sabres vs Kraken – Expert Game Previews

The National Hockey League (NHL) has a total of six games on the schedule for Sunday, including a pair of matinee games with a 3 p.m. EST or earlier puck drop. The Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils battle at 12:30 p.m. EST on NHL Network, and the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens square off at 7 p.m. EST, also on NHLN.

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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.

Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils

The Canucks (11-17-3) and Devils (18-13-1) meet at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. at 12:30 p.m. ET on NHL Network to kick off Sunday's schedule.

Vancouver kicks off a five-game Eastern Conference road trip, hoping to find some winners in the northeast. The Canucks limp in with the least amount of points in the NHL, and they recently traded budding superstar Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild. Hughes is under contract through next season, but the thinking is that eventually he'd like to link up with his brothers Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes, who just so happen to play for the opponent of Vancouver on Sunday, the New Jersey Devils.

Vancouver suffered a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres last time out, and they're 1-5-1 in the past seven outings. Against the Eastern Conference, the Canucks are 2-6-1 in the past nine games.

In the past two seasons, the road team has won each of the four meetings, and the Over is 7-1 in the past eight in the series dating back to Feb. 28, 2022. However, the Under has cashed at a 6-0-1 clip for the Canucks in the past seven games since Nov. 28.

The Devils picked up a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks in matinee action on Saturday, cashing as slight favorites (-115), as the Under (6.5) connected. The Devils fell behind 1-0 in the first period, but Stefan Noesen leveled the score 1-1 late in the opening 20 minutes. Paul Cotter and Cody Glass scored goals in the second period, while Connor Brown posted an empty-net goal to put a bow on the scoring.

With Jake Allen stopping 30 of 31 shots on Saturday, Jacob Markstrom (8-6-1, 3.66 GAA, .875 SV%) is expected to go for the Devils in the 2nd game of a back-to-back . He has allowed three or more goals in five straight starts, and in 10 of the past 11 outings since Nov. 6.

Defenseman Simon Nemec was injured in practice Friday, and he is out. The Devils continue to deal with a rash of injuries, but even with Johnathan Kovacevic (knee) and Brett Pesce (upper body) out on defense, and Evgenii Dadonov (undisclosed), J. Hughes (finger) and Timo Meier (personal) on the shelf, too, the Devils should still be able to push past the Canucks. Let's go low on the total, though, despite the recent series trends saying otherwise.

Devils ML (-150 at Fanatics Sportsbook)
Under 5.5 (-110 at Bet365, Caesars and DraftKings Sportsbooks)

Buffalo Sabres at Seattle Kraken

The Sabres (13-14-4) and Kraken (12-11-6) meet at Climate Pledge Arena at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

Buffalo wraps up a six-game road trip at CPA on Sunday evening, and after opening with three straight losses, the Sabres have picked up one-goal wins in the past two stops, including 3-2 in Vancouver on Thursday. Alex Lyon has backstopped both of the victories, stopping 30 of 32 shots, while Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson and Zach Benson posted goals to provide offensive support.

Seattle picked up a 3-2 OTW against the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, but they couldn't carry over the momentum in a quick jaunt down to Utah, falling 5-3 on Friday behind Philipp Grubauer.

Joey Daccord, who backstopped the win over the Kings, is projected to be back in between the pipes. He has the only win for Seattle in the past eight games, as the Kraken is 1-6-1 in that span.

The Kraken have won seven of eight meetings in this series since Nov. 4, 2021, with the Over cashing in five in a row, and seven of eight encounters.

Buffalo is playing a little better lately, but it is on the end of a long trip, and it could be on fumes. Let's take the Kraken on home ice as underdogs, and we'll go low on the total.