The first round of the NFL playoffs comes to a close on Monday night, headlined by a Wild Card showdown that caps a busy betting slate across the NHL and NBA. With postseason urgency in the NFL and midseason trends taking shape on the ice and hardwood, bettors have a layered card full of matchup-driven value to dissect. Here are tonight’s best bets brought to you by BetOnline.ag. Click here to join. All new players get a 50% welcome bonus and up to $250 in free bets.
First Pick: Dallas Stars Moneyline
Rundown: The Los Angeles Kings (19-15-10) return home to Crypto.com Arena as they host the Dallas Stars (26-10-9) in a Western Conference matchup to open the week.
Los Angeles enters the contest riding momentum from one of its most impressive wins of the season, a 4-3 shootout victory over rival Edmonton. The win vaulted the Kings into a three-way tie with the Seattle Kraken and Utah Mammoth for the final two Western Conference wild card spots. Dallas, meanwhile, looks to stop the bleeding after dropping six of its last seven games. Despite the recent skid, the Stars remain tied with the Minnesota Wild for second place in the Central Division with 61 points.
Defensively, the matchup is fairly even, with Los Angeles ranking fifth and Dallas seventh in goals allowed per game. The separation comes on the offensive side, where Dallas owns a significant edge. The Stars rank third in the NHL in goals per game, while the Kings sit 28th, struggling to consistently generate scoring chances at five-on-five. Dallas’ offensive success has been amplified by an elite power play converting at a league-best 29.1 percent. Leading scorer Mikko Rantanen continues to drive the attack, sitting sixth in the NHL in points this season.
Dallas has also been one of the league’s strongest road teams, posting a 14-4-6 record away from home while averaging 3.75 goals per game as the visiting side.
With the season series tied at one game apiece, expect Dallas to leverage its offensive firepower and strong road play to secure its second straight win over Los Angeles and get back on track with a road victory.
Second Pick: Under 228.5 Points
Rundown: The Los Angeles Lakers (23-13) travel to Sacramento to take on the Kings (9-30) in a Pacific Division matchup featuring two teams trending in opposite directions.
Los Angeles enters the contest looking to halt a two-game slide following back-to-back losses to San Antonio and Milwaukee. Sacramento, meanwhile, will look to play spoiler and secure just its 10th win of the season. Despite the recent skid, the Lakers remain atop the Pacific Division, though the Phoenix Suns are closing the gap, sitting just half a game behind Los Angeles in the standings.
Despite boasting the NBA’s leading scorer in Luka Dončić, Los Angeles remains in the bottom half of the league offensively, ranking 18th in points per game. The recent absence of breakout guard Austin Reaves has hindered the Lakers’ ability to consistently generate quality scoring opportunities. Sacramento has struggled even more on the offensive end, owning the league’s second-worst scoring attack at just 109.8 points per game. Those offensive inefficiencies have carried over to the betting market. Lakers road games have exceeded the projected total in only eight of 19 contests, while Kings home games at Golden 1 Center have gone over the total in just seven of 19 matchups.
Expect Los Angeles to establish control in a slower-paced game that favors half-court execution, resulting in a contest that falls short of the projected point total.
Third Pick: Texans -3
Rundown: The Houston Texans (5) carry a nine-game winning streak into the Steel City as they take on the AFC North champion Pittsburgh Steelers (4) to close out Wild Card Weekend under the lights on Monday night.
Houston enters the postseason as one of the NFL’s hottest teams, finishing the regular season 12-5 after opening the year with losses in its first three games. The midseason turnaround has been fueled largely by the league’s most dominant defense, featuring edge rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr., along with a secondary anchored by cornerbacks Derek Stingley Jr and Kamari Lassiter. Guided by defensive-minded head coach DeMeco Ryans, the unit allowed an AFC-best 17.4 points per game and routinely forced opposing offenses into difficult situations. The Texans finished with the second-most takeaways in the league with 29 (1.7 per game), a reflection of their ability to create pressure and capitalize on mistakes. Offensively, third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud has played complementary football, doing exactly what is required behind an elite defense by protecting the football. His top target, Nico Collins, led the team with 1,117 receiving yards on 71 catches and added six touchdowns. Houston’s defensive front will look to disrupt a Pittsburgh offensive line that ranked second in the NFL in PFF pass-blocking efficiency (88.8) during the regular season.
On the other sideline, Pittsburgh returns to the playoffs for the third consecutive season under three different quarterbacks, underscoring head coach Mike Tomlin’s ability to win regardless of circumstance. The 42-year-old veteran gunslinger Aaron Rodgers will make his first playoff start since the 2021 NFC Divisional Round and will welcome back his top wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, who is set to return after serving a two-game suspension stemming from a Week 16 incident in Detroit. The matchup between Metcalf, who recorded 850 yards and six touchdowns this season, and Houston’s lockdown secondary will be one of the game’s defining storylines throughout the night. Defensively, star linebacker T.J. Watt is set to make his second start since returning from surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung. His presence up front could pose problems for a Houston offensive line that ranked 27th among all units in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
With Houston arriving in Pittsburgh as the league’s hottest team, powered by a ferocious defense and steady quarterback play, expect the Texans to punch its ticket to the Divisional Round with an impressive road victory.