Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Thursday, April 30

Expert NHL best bets for Stars vs Wild and Oilers vs Ducks, with Game 6 picks, odds, parlays and playoff betting insights.

April 30, 2026

Expert NHL Betting Picks Today: Thursday, April 30

By:

Daniel Dobish

April 30, 2026

NHL Picks

NHL Best Bets & Picks: Stars vs Wild & Oilers vs Ducks – Expert Game Previews

The Stanley Cup Playoffs roll on Thursday night with a pair of Game 6 matchups in the Western Conference, and the home team in each has the opportunity to close out the series.

The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild meet at 7:30 p.m. ET at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, while the Edmonton Oilers look to stay alive against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center in Anaheim at 10 p.m. ET. Both games can be viewed on TNT/truTV/HBO Max.

We'll provide single plays and parlay opportunities you could potentially pair with Thursday'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.

Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild

The Stars suffered a 4-2 loss in Game 5 on home ice, as the Wild pushed Dallas to the brink of elimination as the series shifts back to the Twin Cities for Game 6. And, if you're new to this space, just a geography reminder, St. Paul, where Grand Casino Arena is located, is the capital of Minnesota, not Minneapolis, as most people think. It's a pet peeve of mine, as I am a big geography nerd. Moving on...

After taking a 2-1 series lead, snatching home-ice advantage back from the Wild after Minnesota won 6-1 in Game 1, Dallas has dropped two in a row in the series. Both games in Minnesota ended up going to overtime, and it was tied 2-2 going back to Dallas for Game 5. However, Mats Zuccarello scored at 3:51 of the first period before Miro Heiskanen had a power-play goal to level the game 1-1.

Matt Boldy scored late in the second on a power play, as the Wild went to the room up 2-1 after 40 minutes. Michael McCarron scored at 7:47, giving Minnesota a 3-1 lead, and that ended up as the game-winning tally. Jason Robertson scored at 16:39 to make things interesting, but Kirill Kaprizov ended up with an empty-net goal to put a bow on the scoring. That ENG flipped the Under (5.5) to an Over result for the total, much to the dismay of bettors, although you had to know it was coming in a 3-2 game late in regulation.

Jesper Wallstedt managed 20 saves on 22 shots, outplaying Jake Oettinger, who coughed up three goals on 27 shots. Wallstedt is 3-2-0 with a 2.05 GAA and .926 SV% in this series, while Otter is 2-3-0 with a 2.78 GAA and .899 SV%.

There might be undertones of wishful thinking here, as I don't want this series to end. It's been highly contentious, and this could easily have been the Western Conference Final in the traditional NHL bracket from years past. However, the road team has three wins in this series, so home-ice advantage has meant nothing. That's the real reason to back the Stars. And, Oettinger is a Lakeville, Minn. native, and you know he'll have a little extra incentive in Game 6, as he doesn't want to go home.

Stars ML (+110 at BetRivers Sportsbook)
Under 5.5 (+100 at Bet365, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbooks)

Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks

The Oilers racked up a 4-1 win at Rogers Place in Game 5, as Edmonton responded well with their backs against the wall, facing elimination. We've seen that in recent seasons, as just when you start to write off the Oilers, they come back from the dead.

Edmonton went back to Connor Ingram, stopping 29 of 30 shots, after a flirtation with Tristan Jarry in Game 4 for the Oilers. The latter lost in overtime, so the Oilers went right back to Ingram, and the benching did him good. He easily had his best game of the postseason, and it wasn't even close.

In fact, Anaheim was the one with tendy issues, as Lukas Dostal was listed midway through the first period with three goals allowed on just nine shots, as the Ducks went to Ville Husso to steer the ship home. He allowed a single goal on 11 shots, although it seems highly likely Anaheim will get away from Dostal, although he could be on a short leash again.

We've seen Edmonton go to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past two seasons, and it can easily look back to recent seasons and how to deal with adversity to bounce back. It has a track record. Anaheim is showing its inexperience in closing out a series. Sure, it has John Carlson and Alex Killorn, previous Stanley Cup winners, but the Ducks are lacking many players with extensive playoff experience. The Oilers are bursting with players with a boatload of postseason time.

The Oilers looked more like themselves in Game 5, and that's bad for the Ducks. Leon Draisaitl had two goals, Evan Bouchard had three assists, and Ingram allowed just a single goal. Back Edmonton, and let's go low again. Books offering a flat seven is a gift. As we get into Game 6, and presumably a decisive Game 7, if our pick pans out, scores are going to tumble.