Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Wednesday, April 15

Expert NHL betting picks for April 15 covering Stars vs Sabres and Kraken vs Golden Knights. Get best bets, parlays, injury updates and odds.

April 15, 2026

Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Wednesday, April 15

By:

Daniel Dobish

April 15, 2026

NHL Picks

NHL Best Bets & Picks: Stars vs Sabres & Kraken vs Golden Knights – Expert Game Previews

The National Hockey League (NHL) has six total games on the penultimate day of the regular season Wednesday. The Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres meet at 7:00 p.m. on TNT/HBO Max/truTV in the only nationally-televised game of the evening, and at 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+, the Seattle Kraken will look to throw a monkey wrench into the plans of the Vegas Golden Knights.

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

Top up your bankroll thanks to sportsbook promos like this BetMGM bonus code offering $1,500 in bonus bets.

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.

Dallas Stars at Buffalo Sabres

The Stars (49-20-12) and Sabres (50-23-8) wrap up the regular season against each other in the TNT game at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.

Could this be a Stanley Cup preview? It would be a rematch of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final when Brett Hull led Dallas to the controversial win over Dominik Hasek and Buffalo. My old roommate was a Sabres fan, and during that series, we needed to spackle the drywall. He still whines about Don Koharski to this day!

The Stars are locked into the No. 2 seed in the Central Division with 110 points, as the Minnesota Wild cannot catch them. Dallas and Minnesota will meet in a first-round matchup that probably should be a series much later in the playoffs but will instead provide some early entertainment for fans.

The Sabres won 4-1 as slight road underdogs (+125) as the Under (6) cashed on New Year's Eve at American Airlines Center. Oddly enough, these teams have met on New Year's Eve in each of the past two seasons, both times in Dallas. The Under is 4-1 in the past five meetings in this series as well.

Buffalo surged to an Atlantic Division championship with four straight victories to close out the season, including a decisive 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 6. The Under is 3-1 in the past four games.

With both of these teams locked into their playoff spots, don't look for either side to be too risky. Roope Hintz (lower body) and Miro Heiskanen (lower body) are each sidelined, while Sam Steel is nursing a hip injury, and he's a question mark for the finale. Nathan Bastian is also nursing a hand injury and is unlikely to go. Sam Carrick will be sidelined for the Sabres due to an arm issue.

Jake Oettinger (33-12-6, 2.62 GAA, .899 SV%, 4 SO) is still confirmed to go for Dallas, while Colten Ellis (8-4-1, 2.90 GAA, .904 SV%, 1 SO) is expected to go for the home side. Let's go Under as the best bet, while siding with the Stars lightly.

Stars ML (-145 at Fanatics, FanDuel and Hard Rock Sportsbooks)
Under 6.5 (-130 at DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel and Hard Rock Sportsbooks)

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

Seattle Kraken at Vegas Golden Knights

The Kraken (34-35-11) and Golden Knights (38-26-17) meet at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas at 10:00 p.m. ET.

The Kraken also have a game Thursday night, wrapping up the season in Colorado, but they're eliminated from the playoff hunt. However, this is a huge game, as Vegas needs just one point to sew up the hotly-contested Pacific Division.

It's a two-horse race now, as the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings (90 points each) can no longer win the division, but the Edmonton Oilers (91 points) are still alive. The Oilers need a Seattle win in regulation, while Edmonton also needs to top the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.

As a result, Wednesday's game at The Fortress is one of the most important matchups of the evening. The Kraken are 3-0-0 in the first three meetings this season, all as an underdog, and if you bet Seattle in each of the games, you'd be at +488. The Under is 3-1 in the past four meetings in this series, including two straight battles in Vegas.

This should have a playoff-like feel for the Golden Knights as they attempt to secure a Pacific Division title. Seattle has averaged 2.3 goals per game (GPG) in the past nine games and has leaned upon rookie Niklas Kokko to try to see what the prospect can do on the job.

Let's back the Golden Knights to cash on the puck line, snapping the Kraken's hold in this series, and we'll go low on the total.