The New Jersey Devils will continue their west-coast road trip as they face off with the Seattle Kraken in this epic battle! It is about that time to take a sneak peek at our NHL odds series where our Devils-Kraken prediction and pick will be revealed.
Entering play fresh off of a convincing 6-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, the most recent win was a good sign considering the Devils went down in blowout fashion to the worst team in all of the NHL in the San Jose Sharks. Overall, New Jersey is 12-10-1 and have won four of their last five meetings.
As for the Kraken, it has been Seattle who is attempting to get back to their playoff form from a year ago but are struggling mightily to get back to that type of successful play. On paper, Seattle has been defeated a shocking five times in a row and are more than desperate to end their lengthy losing streak before things get too out of hand.
Here are the NHL Odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NHL Odds: Devils-Kraken Odds
New Jersey Devils: -1.5 (+155)
Seattle Kraken: +1.5 (-192)
Over: 6.5 (-122)
Under: 6.5 (+100)
How to Watch Devils vs. Kraken
Time: 10:30 ET/7:30 PT
TV: ESPN+
Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)
Why The Devils Will Cover The Spread/Win
While this game will end late into the night on the East Coast, the Devils will be keeping their fingers crossed that they are far from fatigued and boast a ton of energy as they will be entering a hostile environment where Seattle fans will be roaring from the top of their lungs.
In order to cover the spread as the road team, there is no doubt that New Jersey will need to make it a main priority to continue to click on all cylinders offensively. Without a doubt, the Devils tend to lean on their powerful offense and are averaging a whopping 3.70 goals per game which ranks near the upper echelon of NHL teams. Over the course of their last five games, New Jersey has amassed a total of 25 goals which puts an immense amount of pressure on opposing defenses. At first glance, Seattle's defensive play leaves much to be desired as they surrender 3.42 scores per game. If worst comes to worst, the one thing that can be counted on is the fact that New Jersey's offense may be too much to overcome if you are Seattle.
Not to mention, but the Devils' defensive presence is certainly nothing to be impressed by. Alas, this will put that much more pressure on the shoulders of this offensive attack unless this defense or goalie Vitek Vanacek comes out with their hair on fire. On paper, Vanacek has struggles keeping the puck out of net as he only possesses a lackluster .877 save percentage on the season. If the Devils have any plans of coming into Seattle and stealing a road win, then Vanacek will need to be much better than what he has shown.
Why The Kraken Will Cover The Spread/Win
Is it time to press the panic button? Despite a good majority of the season remaining for the Kraken to turn things around, Seattle still can't be happy about how the campaign has started up to this point.
Nevertheless, this five-game slide needs to be halted immediately, and in order to accomplish that, the Kraken will need to focus on their scoring ability which has lacked greatly during the 2023-2024 regular season. In fact, Seattle possesses the 29th-ranked scoring offense in the league and are struggling coming upon with offense opportunities.
At first glance, the Kraken appears to be a better team than what their record suggests, and this matchup against an uninspiring Devils defense could present the perfect storm for the Kraken to strike in the goal-scoring department. Considering that New Jersey has given up an unfathomable 18 goals over the course of their last four outings, Seattle cannot let look sloppy offensively in a game where they should get some open looks on goal.
All in all, similarly to the Devils, the goaltending play has been putrid for Seattle. After a strong season last year for netminder Philipp Grubauer, he has limped his way out of the starting gate to an underwhelming 5-8-1 record as a starter and is stopping only .883 percent of opposing shots on net. Simply put, Grubauer must figure out a way to start playing better or else his team will suffer greatly.
Final Devils-Kraken Prediction & Pick
The Devils have found themselves in the thick of a winning stretch while the Kraken can't buy a win as of late. Overall, the Kraken are more than due to get back into the win column, and even though it might not be a popular pick, take Seattle to end their losing ways at home on this Thursday evening.
Final Devils-Kraken Prediction & Pick: Kraken +1.5 (-192)
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