The NHL’s regular-season comes to a close Thursday night with six games, and the final two matchups for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs will be decided. The biggest matchups are Ducks vs. Predators at 8 p.m. ET and Canucks vs. Oilers at 9 ET, and I’ll focus on the latter while looping in another potential milestone for Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid.
Note that we already have seen history this hockey season with 561 total comeback wins after the Stars, Blackhawks and Golden Knights all recorded such victories Wednesday. Sure hope we don’t need a comeback in this one.Â
BetRivers same-game parlay (-120)
- Oilers regulation line
- Alt Under 8.5
On Wednesday, I wrote that Vegas had a chance to clinch the Pacific Division with a home win that night over an eliminated Seattle side and that’s just what happened, 4-1; at CBS Sports, we won a parlay of Vegas regulation line and alt Under 7.5 at +110. Doing similar here. Had the Golden Knights lost in regulation, then tonight would certainly have been a lot more interesting.
Edmonton sits second in the Pacific with 91 points and Anaheim third with 90. Needless to say, if the Oilers get the full two points (they only need one) they are locked into second and earn home-ice advantage over whichever the third-place finisher is between the Ducks and Kings, who are in Calgary tonight. L.A. (90 points) could finish second, too, but needs a win and unrealistic help. A regulation loss could drop the Oilers to No. 3 or even the wild card spot if both the Kings and Ducks win.
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While Anaheim could draw even points-wise temporarily with Edmonton with an overtime or shootout loss, the Oilers would own any tiebreaker thanks to more regulation wins. They also own it over the Kings.
Edmonton is still a bit short-handed injury-wise with superstar Leon Draisaitl and fellow top forward Zach Hyman both having missed several games. Draisaitl will not play here, but Hyman might in a minor surprise, so that tells me the Oilers are all-in.
Connor Ingram has taken over as the clear No. 1 in net, so I’d imagine he’s in there. He has just one win in his past three despite a 1.48 GAA and .935 save percentage over that stretch. The Oilers have missed those two injured guys in a two-game skid as they totaled one goal. I expect a major wake-up effort vs. Vancouver — especially if Hyman is playing.Â
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It doesn’t really matter who the Canucks start in net as they finish one of the worst seasons in franchise history. I suppose they could go all-out, too, simply as they will finish with the fewest points by far and the best chance (25.5%) to win the lottery regardless, so a win wouldn’t hurt anything.
As for McDavid, he’s probably not winning his fourth career Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, as he is the +115 second favorite entering the final night behind Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (-125), who will win the Rocket Richard Trophy as well with a league-leading 53 goals and could add to that tonight vs. Seattle.
But McDavid has the Art Ross Trophy (most points) wrapped up for a sixth time with an NHL-best 134 points. The big question tonight is whether he can get to 50 for the second time after a career-high 64 in 2022-23. He is sitting at 48, and only four players in Oilers history have had multiple 50-goal campaigns: Wayne Gretzky (eight), Jari Kurri (four), Draisaitl (four) and Glenn Anderson (two).
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Entering the season, McDavid flat-out said he wanted to be more of a goal scorer: “I want to prove that scoring 50 or 60 (goals) is not a one-off,” he said to the various media. “I’ve had 50 goals and I’ve had 100 assists, and I like the goals a little bit more.”
I would not rule it out against a horrible Canucks defense that ranks last in team goals-against average (3.80) and last in save percentage (.881). Vancouver is also second-to-last with a 72.0% penalty kill. McDavid has a flair for the dramatic and is +325 for at least two goals – absurdly cheap price — but hasn’t found the net in three games vs. the Canucks this season (three assists).
Amazingly, McDavid has a point in every Oilers victory (40 wins) and is -1000 (LOL) for at least one point here. No. 97 can become the third player ever to record a point in every game their team won in a season (minimum 25 wins), following Gretzky (29 in 1980-81 with Edmonton) and Dennis Maruk (26 in 1981-82 with Washington).
I have almost zero doubt on Edmonton regulation line but a tad worried about alt Under 7.5 in something like a 5-3 Oilers win so will push it to alt Under 8.5. Check out other expert picks in the SportsLine daily newsletter.Â
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