Vancouver vs New Jersey: The Devils to win for 13th straight against the Blue and Greens

Vancouver haven't been able to beat New Jersey in 12 straight head-to-head meetings. Will Bruce Boudreau's team be able to break their streak now? We predict that the Devils will not be without a point again!

Vancouver continue their battle to make the playoffs. Their chances of making the Cup battles seemed slim to none at all recently, but Bruce Boudreau succeeded in putting his team back in contention for a top-8 spot in the West. The Blue and Greens had a strong February campaign, claiming six wins in seven games, all during regular time, but they still lost to Washington and Tampa Bay 3-4 and 1-2 in their final two games. There is little doubt that Vancouver will fight to the end for a playoff spot, but two straight setbacks dropped them to tenth in the Western Conference standings, and the gap to the coveted top eight has increased to three points.

The current regular season has been uneven for New Jersey, which has kept them from qualifying for the playoffs for a long time. Sure, the Devils do occasionally have a nice stretch, but that is inevitably followed by a string of losses. The Red and Black had a particularly weak January and February, managing to pick up just one win and ten losses in 11 meetings, and losing all ten times during regular time. This is a crucial period for Lindy Ruff's side as they have gradually improved and started to win regularly, but they are now in 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings and are well behind the play-offs.

Vancouver and New Jersey are all recent years teams of a comparable level, whose destiny is the fight for the playoffs, from which they often emerge as losers. Their head-to-head stats should be roughly even, but we're seeing something incredible here. The New Jersey Devils have nowhere near beaten the Devils in 12 straight head-to-head encounters. The opponents met a couple of weeks ago, when the Red and Black defeated their opponent again, 7-2. It's a sin to go against such a trend, so it's worth taking a closer look at the bet on a New Jersey's double chance for 1.75.

Vancouver have been delighting hockey fans time and time again lately with bright and productive play. In the previous 11 meetings with the Canucks 86 goals were scored (7.82 average per game), which is a very solid figure even for the standards of the NHL. New Jersey has seen a surge in scoring activity as well, with 85 goals against (7.08 average per game) in their last 12 games. The first game of the season was also rich in goals - 7:2, so the best option for the prediction seems to be Total Over 6.5 pucks for 2.00.

Jack Hughes appears to have finally settled into adult hockey. In the two previous seasons, he had serious problems adjusting to the NHL, although his stats aren't bad, now he's beginning to live up to his status as number one in the draft. In 39 regular-season games this season, the 20-year-old New Jersey forward has already scored 44 points (18 goals + 26 assists), making him the second-leading scorer for the Devils, while also missing several games through injury. In such a situation, it might be worth taking a closer look at Jack Hughes' Total Over 0.5 points for 2.50.