NHL Frozen Frenzy picks, odds: Rangers-Canadiens, Red Wings-Islanders and more

The NHL‘s annual ‘Frozen Frenzy’ takes place Tuesday, meaning all 32 teams will be in action with games starting at 6 p.m. ET and culminating with an 11 p.m. ET puck drop between the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights. 

To celebrate the wall-to-wall hockey, we’ll dive into our best bets and try to come up with a parlay that can turn this year’s Frozen Frenzy into a night to remember.

All odds are courtesy of DraftKings.

Rangers (-245) vs. Canadiens (+200), 7:15 p.m. ET

The Montreal Canadiens are a mess defensively right now.

The Habs have “only” allowed 20 goals through their first six contests, but they’ve conceded 24.3 expected goals in all situations, which is the second-most in the NHL on a per 60 basis.

Montreal also has the dubious distinction of allowing the most shot attempts and expected goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

It’s bad across the board and the Rangers, who are tied for first in the NHL with 4.8 goals per game, are perhaps the last team you’d want to face in this particular situation. 

The Canadiens do have a quick-strike offense that can cover up for some defensive foibles and that makes backing the Blueshirts to win or cover the puck line a little tricky at this price, but a play on the Rangers to go over 4.5 goals (+170) seems a good way to get this ticket started.

The Bet: Rangers team total Over 4.5 (+170)

Islanders (-166) vs. Red Wings (+140), 7:45 p.m. ET

The Islanders are a tough team to trust at this kind of price.

They’ve already blown a couple of late leads in the third period at home and they’ve gone to overtime in three of their first five games, but overall the process doesn’t seem too bad.

The Isles are pushing play in the right direction at 5-on-5, the goaltending looks solid and they’re getting production from their depth scorers.

Still, this team makes too many mistakes to back at this price.

The Red Wings, meanwhile, are struggling in just about every department.

The Red Wings are near the bottom of the NHL in expected goals percentage, they’re giving up way too many high-danger scoring chances and their goaltending situation is murky at best. 

So, we’ll look to a player prop in this contest instead of backing a side or total.

Simon Holmstrom has played the first five games of the season on the Isles’ third line but he’ll likely get the bump up to the top unit with Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat since Anthony Duclair is on the sideline.

Holmstrom’s offensive chops show in flashes rather than consistently, but he should be in a great position to make his mark on this game given Detroit’s defensive issues. 

The Bet: Simon Holmstrom to score (+475)

Colorado Avalanche (-122) vs. Seattle Kraken (+102), 8:30 p.m. ET

It’s funny what a couple of wins can do for a struggling team.

The Colorado Avalanche looked a bit of a dog’s breakfast through their first four games, but wins over the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks have quieted the noise a little bit in Denver.

But those two wins — especially when you consider the opposition — shouldn’t distract us from what has been an uninspiring start to the season for one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. 

The Avs need to sort out their goaltending, their lack of depth is getting exposed and they are still without some key players.

Colorado’s star players can drag the Avalanche out of plenty of holes, but against a deep team like Seattle it gets trickier.

Seattle is a good bet at +102 odds, but it’s also worth considering backing them to win by multiple goals since the Avs have a way of letting games get away from them. To add some juice to this four-leg parlay, we’ll throw them in to cover the alternate puck line (-1.5) at a good price. 

The Bet: Seattle Kraken -1.5 (+235)

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Boston Bruins (+114) vs. Nashville Predators (-135), 8:30 p.m. ET

The 0-5 Nashville Predators are in a desperate spot Tuesday night.

The Preds certainly haven’t been as bad as their record implies, but they’ve not been very good, either.

Most concerning is the form of goaltender Juuse Saros, who is coming off a relatively pedestrian performance in 2023-24. 

Under the surface it does look like Nashville should trend up a bit.

Their 5-on-5 numbers aren’t abject and they are shooting a league-worst 5.6% to start the season.

It was likely everybody was overrating the Preds coming into the season after a splashy summer, but it should be better than this.

The Boston Bruins, meanwhile, are still searching for their form.

The Bruins are really struggling defensively and are relying too much on their goaltenders to bail them out. Offensively things look tepid for Boston, too.

You don’t want to put too much stock into a must-win spot, but this looks like an OK time to back a desperate team against one that’s a bit overrated based on prior seasons.

BET: Nashville Predators (-135)

Parlay odds: 89/1 (+8953)

• Rangers team total Over 4.5 (+170)
• Islanders Simon Holmstrom to score (+475)
• Seattle Kraken -1.5 (+235)
• Nashville Predators (-135)

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Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.