Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Wednesday, April 1

Expert NHL picks: Kings edge Blues in a high-stakes matchup & Ducks expected to outscore Sharks. Plus smart parlays, latest odds & promos—get all the betting insight!

April 1, 2026

Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Wednesday, April 1

By:

Daniel Dobish

April 1, 2026

NHL Picks

NHL Best Bets & Picks: Blues vs Kings & Ducks vs Sharks – Expert Game Previews

The National Hockey League (NHL) has just three games on the slate Wednesday evening, including the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks in the nationally-televised game at 9 p.m. ET on TNT/truTV/HBO Max.

We'll provide single plays and parlay opportunities you could potentially pair with Wednesday's MLB, NBA and NIT college 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.

St. Louis Blues at Los Angeles Kings

The Blues (31-31-11) and the Kings (29-26-18) meet at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

St. Louis enters play with 73 points and nine games remaining in the season, sitting four games back of the Nashville Predators for the final wild-card spot. With Utah sitting with 82 points, there is basically just one wild-card spot remaining, and as many as six teams with a realistic shot at it.

The Kings are also one of those teams, one point back of the Predators with a game in hand. The Winnipeg Jets also have 76 points, while the San Jose Sharks have 75 points, with two games in hand on the Preds, so they're very much in the mix, too.

In essence, this is an elimination game in the wild-card hunt; especially if a team loses in regulation, it's almost a death knell. You can't give up two points to your competitor and hope for a positive outcome in the playoff race. That's why this game is so wildly interesting.

The Blues weren't even expected to be here, as they traded off veteran rearguards Justin Faulk and Brayden Schenn, waving the white flag at the NHL trade deadline. But the veterans and younger players have some tremendous heart, fighting tooth and nail to stay in the hunt. That's admirable.

While St. Louis lost one of those head-to-head battles with the Sharks in San Jose on Monday, they fell 5-4, and put up a valiant effort. That halted a four-game win streak, which also included a 2-1 OTW against the Sharks in St. Louis on March 26.

The Under is 7-1-1 in the past nine games for the Blues, and 12-2-1 across the previous 15 outings. For the Kings, the Under has a 3-2 edge in the past five games, and 6-4 mark in the past 10.

Los Angeles was dusted 6-2 by the Utah Mammoth, and it is just 1-2-3 in the past six games. They've gone to OT and/or a shootout frequently lately, and the Kings have ended up in OT/SO with the Blues in four straight meetings, winning three of them, including both previous matchups this season.

Let's back the Kings to gut out a narrow win, and we'll go low on the total, which is 5-1 in the past six in this series.

Kings ML (-140 at Bet365, Fanatics, FanDuel and Hard Rock Sportsbooks)
Under 5.5 (-110 at Caesars and Fanatics Sportsbooks)

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Anaheim Ducks at San Jose Sharks

The Ducks (41-28-5) and Sharks (34-31-7) meet at SAP Center in the nationally-televised game at 9 p.m. ET.

Anaheim is first in the Pacific Division with 87 points, two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers, also with a game in hand. San Jose is two points back of Nashville for the final wild-card spot, so this could conceivably be a playoff preview if things break a certain way.

The Ducks are just 18-18-2 on the road this season, and despite being in first place, they have a minus-7 goal differential overall through 74 games. The Sharks are 18-12-5 at home, having been a tough out at SAP Center in this resurgence season.

The road team has won each of the first two meetings, both high-scoring affairs. In San Jose back on Oct. 11, the Ducks outlasted the Sharks 7-6 in overtime as moderate favorites (-135) as the Over (6.5) cashed, while the Sharks nipped the Ducks 5-4 as moderate 'dogs (+140) on Dec. 29, also as the Over (6.5) comfortably hit. Each of the past three meetings has been decided by a single goal as the Over hit in both outings.

San Jose is just 2-5-1 in the past eight games, but it has rallied for two wins in a row. The Under has posted four victories in the past six outings. However, remember that series trend.

Anaheim is 5-1-2 in the past eight games, as it looks to stave off Edmonton, the two-time defending Western Conference champs. Let's take the Ducks to get the job done, and we'll go high on the total until we see some shred of defense in this series.