[NHL] Regular season 2024-2025. Prediction and Discussion Thread

[owlest]

Hi, all you NHL fans out there. I follow the results regularly, so I will post my predictions here. I'm not an expert or an analyst, but I have some knowledge. Let's start with tomorrow's games.

Winnipeg-Pittsburgh. The clear favourite is the Jets, who are going in with a 100% score: 4 wins in 4 games. The Penguins are alternating wins and losses.

San Jose-Colorado. Despite the fact that both clubs are at the bottom of the Western standings, the Avalanche are the clear favourite.

Anaheim-Los Angeles. Clubs that are in the middle of the standings, they are separated by only 1 point. In my opinion, this is the toughest choice here, but I'll hazard a guess that the Kings (my favourite team) will win.

I'll try to summarise tomorrow.

[owlest]

As I suspected, all bets are off:
Winnipeg-Pittsburgh 6-3.
San Jose-Colorado 4:1
Anaheim-Los Angeles 1:4

Only 1 game tonight, but what a game:
Toronto-Tampa - Auston Matthews vs Nikita Kucherov. My prediction is Toronto wins. Anyone who thinks otherwise, write me.

[owlest]

Today is a very busy day of play and someone has a night with 16 matches, which rarely happens. Let's get straight to the predictions:

Philadelphia-Washington. I would venture to guess that Washington will be stronger today.

Florida-Minnesota. It's hard to guess the winner, I'll bet on the Stanley Cup winner.

New Jersey-Tampa. Since the Lightning lost to Toronto, the team usually wins the next day.

Buffalo-Dallas. I think the guests will be stronger, although the Blades are a rather unpredictable team.

Montreal-Rangers. The guests look stronger so far, so the bet is obvious.

Columbus-Toronto. Definitely the Maple Leafs, I wouldn't be surprised if they have 2 wins in 2 days.

Islanders-Detroit. The odds are equal, but I think the club from New York will take the upper hand.

St Louis-Winnipeg. I favour the Jets, although the opponent can inflict the first defeat of the season.

Chicago-Vancouver. Despite the neighbouring tournament position, the Canadian club should take the game.

Seattle-Colorado. I hope that the Avalanche have played up, so they will beat the Kraken.

Nashville-Boston. The outsider of the season can finally start winning despite Boston's strength.

Edmonton-Carolina. Another club that started off with losses, but I think they are starting to play last year's hockey.

Utah-Ottawa. Two evenly matched teams, I favour Utah.

Calgary-Pittsburgh. The Flames are off to a surprisingly good start and look stronger than Pittsburgh's veterans.

Anaheim-San Jose. I'd like to see the Sharks get their first win, but it's unlikely....

Vegas-Los Angeles. Vegas has always been a tough opponent for the Kings, so there is a high probability of a win.

[owlest]

A busy day of play has come to an end, with the most surprising results between Florida and Minnesota, Buffalo and Dallas, and Toronto and Columbus. But, most of the meetings were guessed: 10 vs. 6, in the end, for three days, while the experiment lasts, 14 were guessed, 6 were not guessed. One match tomorrow, Philadelphia and Washington meet again, this time hosting the Capitals, who I think will lose the game

[owlest]

Washington beats Philadelphia for the second day in a row — the prediction is unfortunate. Nine games today, betting:
Boston-Dallas
Toronto-St. Louis
Tampa-Minnesota
Rangers-Florida
Detroit-New Jersey
Calgary-Carolina
Utah-Colorado
Seattle-Winnipeg
Los Angeles-San Jose
So far, the odds are 66.6.

[owlest]

Today there were quite unexpected results, so I guessed only 3 out of 9 matches, so the positive prediction odds dropped to 56.66. Hopefully no surprises tomorrow:
Vegas-Ottawa
New Jersey -Islanders
Chicago-Nashville
Edmonton-Pittsburgh

[owlest]

Of yesterday's 4 matches, 1 was unguessed, which I was very doubtful about as the last matches between the rivals went in favour of the Islanders. Tonight's matches are now set to begin:

Buffalo-Detroit
Philadelphia-Minnesota
Los Angeles-Utah
Boston-Toronto
Montreal-St. Louis
Tampa-Washington
Rangers-Anaheim
Calgary-Winnipeg
Islanders-Florida
Nashville-Columbus
Dallas-Chicago
Vancouver-Pittsburgh
Vegas-San Jose
Seattle-Carolina

[owlest]

Just a great day in terms of results, with 12 matches out of 14 guessed. During the experiment, 32 matches were guessed, 16 were not guessed. As an amateur, I think it's not bad. Only 4 matches tomorrow:
Detroit-Edmonton
New Jersey-Anaheim
Philadelphia-Montreal
Colorado-Ottawa
Not sure of the results in all four pairs, if I were playing for money I would hardly bet on one of the clubs.

[owlest]

Last day's results are not great: 2 out of 4 guesses. There are 8 matches today, the highest probability of a Colorado win over Chicago, I'm guessing:
Florida will beat Buffalo;
Edmonton will beat Columbus;
Nashville will beat Tampa, and then these are the predictions:
Winnipeg-Toronto
Utah-San Jose
Vancouver-Carolina
Vegas-Calgary

[owlest]

Yesterday's matches did not please me: I guessed only 3 matches out of 8 - a bad result. Today's pairings are also difficult to predict:
Boston-Philadelphia
Montreal-Seattle
Ottawa-St. Louis
Islanders-Anaheim
Pittsburgh-Minnesota
Washington-Rangers
San Jose-Los Angeles
The most predicted pairings are the last two and Pittsburgh-Minnesota, but I wouldn't be surprised if either of them fudge the result.

[owlest]

The prediction failures continue, today I didn't guess 5 matches out of 7 - worst ever. But that's okay, we keep going:
Columbus-Islanders: yesterday the Islanders lost to Anaheim, so they will win today;
Detroit-Winnipeg: The Jets lost in their last game, so they will be eager to increase their lead;
Colorado-Tampa: An interesting matchup where it will be hard to guess the winner;
Utah-Calgary: Utah has been surprising in recent games, while the Flames are also down after a great start;
Los Angeles-Vegas: in the first match between the rivals this season the Golden Knights were stronger by a head, I think they will also celebrate victory in the second match;
Vancouver-New Jersey: the strengths are about equal, so it's just a matter of luck.

[owlest]

It's still hard to guess the outcome of NHL games, even if you know the strength of the teams well: today I guessed only 2 games out of 6. Tomorrow is also a difficult choice:
Toronto-Seattle
Philadelphia-St. Louis
Pittsburgh-Anaheim
Washington-Montreal
Carolina-Boston
Nashville-Edmonton
San Jose-Chicago
By the way, starting today I'm starting to post less, I'll be getting in touch about once a week now with a recap.