Monday night kicks off the week with the ultimate opportunity for NHL fans, with a standalone matchup that fans eagerly anticipate. The Nashville Predators look to snap a four-game losing skid when hosting the Ottawa Senators, who aim for their fifth straight win. For bettors, this matchup provides a chance to capitalize on some of our recent strong trends, like our 29-20 record on our last 49 picks, our 8-5 record on our last 13 player prop picks and our 15-7 record on our last 22 moneyline picks.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Ottawa Senators vs Nashville Predators Best Bets:
Despite both teams being on opposite ends of streaks at four games in length, we don’t see any heavy favourites. The lines are very close with the Predators listed as a slight favourite as they’re due for a win and have won six of their last eight home games. Ottawa will look to stay hot but will need to overcome a 4-6-1 record in their last 11 road games.
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Luckily for them, the Senators know how to beat the Predators after downing them 3-1 in their first matchup this season in early December. Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark played a pivotal role in the victory with 36 saves on 37 shots but won’t be available Monday after returning from the long-term injury reserve on Sunday and will see backup Anton Forsberg suit up in his place.
The 32-year-old Swedish netminder has a decent 2.87 goals against average this season that is being carried by his recent four game hot streak with a 3-1-0 record, 2.19 goals against average and a .922 save percentage. He will look to continue the trend of low-scoring road games for Ottawa as they’ve totalled six or more goals in just three of their last 15 road games, including a seven-game streak of unders.
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The player props are another sign of this likely being a low-scoring game as they are really surprising with star players like Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi or Tim Stutzle listed at fairly decent odds just to get a singe point. This feels like a trap game where the odds are so low at 5.5 for total goals when it does in fact go under. Opposite Forsberg is Nashville’s Juuse Saros, who has been going through a rough patch this season with a 2.84 goals against average that has remained with his average rising to 2.91 since the start of January.
Saros will be the main focal point that you will see in many articles today talking about why the over will hit but if you look at his history in this matchup and that the Preds need to get a win in this spot, we can rely on him to play a good enough game for the under to hit. In 11 career games versus Ottawa, Saros has just two regulation losses with a 5-2-4 record and a 2.41 goals against average. His regulation loss to this in December was his first in this matchup since 2022 which makes me believe he will be able to show up when he team needs him to.
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The Predators captain Roman Josi should also play a crucial role as the team’s leader in blocked shots. The Swiss blueliner has 82 on the season and is averaging four per game and this has continued as of late with 23 in his last 13 games. He will look to get in front of some pucks and help his team earn a much needed win over a Senators team that is tied for seventh is shots per game with a 29.7 average.
