Odds For NHL Eastern Teams To Grab A Wild Card Playoff Spot

• The TB Lightning and the Washington Capitals hold the two Eastern Wild Card sports with a month left in the NHL regular season.
• The Red Wings, Sabres, and Islanders are all within four points of the second Wild Card spot, and all three play tonight.

WASHINGTON – The NHL regular season ends on April 18 and Bovada has odds for 11 teams to make the postseason. The East specifically is the tighter race, with seven teams having a shot at the two wild card spots.

After the Capitals’ late-night victory against the Calgary Flames last night, Washington and Tampa Bay are the two current Wild Card teams.

2023-24 NHL East Wild Card Standings

Team	Points	Odds To Make Playoffs
Tampa Bay	78	-2500
Washington Capitals	75	+165
Detroit Red Wings	74	+130
New York Islanders	73	+125
Buffalo Sabres	71	+1400
Pittsburgh Penguins	69	+850
New Jersey Devils	68	+1200

Five of these teams are in action tonight and will be looking to increase their odds to make the postseason. The best legal NHL betting matchup of the night is two of these teams facing off in New Jersey.

• Penguins +107
• Devils -128

Even though the Penguins and the Devils are still in the playoff hunt, neither has performed well in March. The Devils have gone 2-7 this month and the Penguins have gone 3-7. The Devils won their only matchup this season with a score of 5-2.

When playing as the home favorite this season, the Devils have gone 14-14 SU and the Penguins have gone 4-12 as road underdogs.

• Blue Jackets +147
• Red Wings -172

The Detroit Red Wings fell out of the current playoff race last night after the Capitals won, and will be looking to claim the second Wild Card spot back tonight. Detroit went 7-3 in February and was in one of the divisional playoff sports but suffered an awful collapse in March, going 1-7.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, on the other hand, have nothing to play for and lost both games to Detroit this season.

• Hurricanes -160
• Islanders +136

The New York Islanders have dropped their last four games but hope to stay alive in the playoff race by taking down the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes at UBS Arena. Even as the legal sports betting favorite, the Hurricanes have gone 1-2 against the Islanders during the 2023-24 regular season.

• Sabres +170
• Canucks -200

The Sabres are trying to stay alive tonight against a Vancouver Canucks team that leads the West in points. When playing as road underdogs this season, the Sabres have gone 4-12 SU. Buffalo played last night and has gone 2-3 SU when playing the second game of a doubleheader.

• Lightning +115
• Golden Knights -135

The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking to win their fourth game in a row tonight in Vegas against the favored Golden Knights. Since February of 2024, Vegas has not played great as the home favorite with a 2-5 record. The Bolts have won their last three games as the underdog on the road and Nikita Kucherov is staying hot with ten points in five games played in March.

News tags: Buffalo Sabres | Detroit Red Wings | New Jersey Devils | New York Islanders | NHL | Pittsburgh Penguins | Stanley Cup | Tampa Bay Lightning | Washington Capitals