Dean Etheridge
The Boston Bruins are flying in the NHL this season, and on Thursday they host the in-form Seattle Kraken. Can the Bruins put the Kraken in their place? Let’s take a look and also name our free NHL betting picks.
- What; NHL
- Who; Boston Bruins vs Seattle Kraken
- Where; TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
- When; Thursday, January 12th, 2023
- Puck Drop; 7 pm ET
Despite their excellent form of late, the best NHL betting sites don’t seem to expect the Kraken to be winning the Stanley Cup this season. As it stands, Dave Hakstol’s Kraken team is +4000. That’s the same price as the LA Kings, and shorter than the Florida Panthers (+4500).
To put that into perspective, the Bruins are the +500 favorites with the best 2023 Stanley Cup winner betting sites. More betting to win the 2023 Stanley Cup can be found in our below odds table.
| 2023 Stanley Cup Winner Betting |  |  |  |
| Boston Bruins | +500 | +500 | +500 |
| Colorado Avalanche | +650 | +650 | +650 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | +750 | +750 | +750 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | +900 | +900 | +850 |
| New Jersey Devils | +1200 | +1200 | +1150 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | +1400 | +1300 | +1200 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | +1600 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Florida Panthers | +1800 | +1800 | +1700 |
| Calgary Flames | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| New York Rangers | +2200 | +1900 | +2000 |
| Edmonton Oilers | +2200 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Dallas Stars | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Winnipeg Jets | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Seattle Kraken | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
Elsewhere, and in division futures betting, the Kraken are second favorites to win the Pacific Division. The favorites are the Golden Knights at -155, with the Kraken coming next at +550. Behind Seattle is the Calgary Flames and the LA Kings, both at +650.
In conference futures, Dave Hakstol’s team are ninth favorites at +2000 to win the Western Conference. The favorites are the Stanley Cup defending champions, the Colorado Avalanche, who are +340 with BetOnline. Next in the betting is the Vegas Golden Knights at +400, with the Dallas Stars at +500.
All of the above odds are provided by BetOnline, one of the best NHL betting sites on the internet. You can read more about them in our BetOnline sportsbook review.
Bruins continue to dominate the NHL
The Boston Bruins continue to dominate the NHL in the 2022/23 season. Their 7-1 win away at the Ducks on Sunday night was their fourth in a row, and leaves them with an outstanding 32-4-4 record this season.
Swept right through Cali. pic.twitter.com/OzJqe9kqzT
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 9, 2023
Boston are now -900 to win the Atlantic Division. They now have 68 points from their 40 matches and are streets ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs who sit in second position in the table.
In their last ten matches they are 8-0-2. The only two matches in that sequence that they failed to win was a 4-3 home defeat to the Sabres in overtime (the team impressively beaten by the Kraken last night), and a shootout defeat to the Senators between Christmas and the New Year.
The toughest of tests for the inform Kraken
The Seattle Kraken is now on a winning streak of six matches. They’re up to third in the Pacific Division, and are now right on the coattails of the Vegas Golden Knights and the LA Kings. And just for good measure, Dave Hakstol’s team have games in hand on the two sides above them.
Over the course of the season Seattle’s record is 24-12-4. And whilst that’s not at the level of the Bruins, it’s still pretty impressive.
More recently, the Kraken is 7-2-1 across their last ten matches. Scalps in that magnificent run include the Senators (8-4), the Maple Leafs (5-1), and the Oilers (5-2). Their most recent win was a hard fought 4-3 victory away at the Sabres (who have been in good form themselves) on Tuesday night.
#SeaKraken WWWWWin!!! pic.twitter.com/6QIzSf4ccq
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) January 11, 2023
The most impressive thing about the six match winning run is that the last five wins have all come on the road. If they can pull off another road victory tonight, they really will have the rest of the NHL sitting up and paying attention.
Bruins vs Kraken Betting
In the betting to win the match the Bruins are -223 favorites on the moneyline. Seattle is +199. I’ve seen Boston far shorter than that at home – and indeed away – over recent weeks.
On the handicap line, Seattle are the -130 favorites with a +1.5 points start. The Bruins are +110. The total points spread is set at 6 goals. Over 6 is -123, with under 6 at +112.
In their last three wins the Bruins have won by two or more goals, beating the handicap spread. I’m not sure they will continue that run, but I feel -223 on Boston on the moneyline is a touch too short against a team in the Kraken’s form.
Therefore, more for the odds than anything, I’m going to have to make a Boston win on the handicap my first NHL betting pick of the match.
Moving onto total points, and as this could be a tight match, I feel that under 6 could be the better value here.
I do expect both sides to score, but it could be more a low scoring, than high scoring, match. Over 6 goals is now as short as -123. So with under 6 now out at +112, I think that makes a decent value second betting pick.
