With most in the city calling Thursday’s matchup against the winless San Jose Sharks a trap game, Vancouver unquestionably dispelled that notion winning 10-1 . The Canucks moved to 7-2-1, good enough for fifth in the entire NHL.

Next up for the Canucks is the team directly above them in the standings: the Dallas Stars. Here are three bets I like for tonight’s game.

Thursday night was the first time all season that Hughes did not hit his over in shots. Most would shy away after the first sign of adversity, but we will continue to ride with the Canucks captain who has been money for us all season.

Roope Hintz to register over 2.5 shots at -125. My $12.50 bet would return $22.50.

Hintz has followed up an excellent 2023 playoffs with a great start to the season. He has hit his over 2.5 shots in six of his last seven games. I like this play enough to risk a full unit on it.

Vancouver to score a power-play goal at -110. My $10 bet would return $19.09.

This will be a fun special teams battle. Vancouver has been excellent on the power-play this season, scoring at a 34% rate, which ranks second in the NHL. Dallas has been clinical on the penalty kill, killing 94% of penalties, ranking third best in the league.

I like Vancouver to win this battle and will play it at .8 units.

Dougie Hamilton to register over 2.5 shots at -182. My $12.50 bet would return $19.37.  – HIT

Jesper Bratt to score a power play point at +135. My $10 bet would return $23.50. – MISSED

Jeff Skinner to score a power play point at +200. My $8 bet would return $24. – MISSED

Some bad reads from me here,  Jack Hughes went down in the first period, which really killed the Devils’ power-play. We staked $30.50 and returned $19.37. We are now up $126.13(10.1 units) on the year.