National Lacrosse League Betting Picks: Best Bets for Bandits vs Seals, Warriors vs Swarm (Dec. 16)

The third week of the National Lacrosse League season continues with four more games on Saturday. I have four bets in three of those games, including two bets on underdogs, a bet on a favorite against the spread and a player prop. Let’s take a look at what I’m betting.

If you’re an avid bettor who’s new to lacrosse or a lacrosse fan who’s new to betting, check outmy guide on how to bet on lacrosse for some tips to use when placing a lacrosse bet.

Albany FireWolves vs. Philadelphia Wings

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The hottest team in the NLL right now just so happens to be the FireWolves. Albany had low expectations entering this season, but has started 2-0, including a 17-13 win over the defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits. They enter their third-straight game as underdogs against an injury-riddled Philadelphia Wings team.

While 2020 NLL Goaltender of the Year Doug Jamieson has seemingly returned to form, it’s the Albany offense that deserves a lot of credit for their stellar start. Rookies Tye Kurtz and Alex Simmons have integrated seamlessly into this offense and young stars Ethan Walker and Marshall Powless have also elevated their game. They should be able to easily put up points against a defense that relies far too much on star netminder Zach Higgins—whose has faced the second-highest amount of shots through two games this season.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia will be without two of their top three lefty forwards in captain Blaze Riorden and Holden Cattoni. Philadelphia’s offense can hang with most when healthy, but the loss of Riorden and key free agent acquisition Cattoni is a major blow to this offense. I make Albany a slight favorite following the news, so +125 on bet365 is an excellent price to bet the FireWolves to stay hot and leave Philadelphia with a victory.

While I expect Albany to come away with their third straight win, I’m betting one Wings player in particular to have some success on Saturday. Philadelphia forward Joe Resetarits has a points prop of 3.5, which is too low in general, but especially given Philadelphia’s injuries. Resetarits had five points in the season opener, but just three points last week. However, in his last 20 games, Resetarits has failed to record four or more points just twice! That’s right, he’s gone over 3.5 points in 18 of 20 games, including 18 straight prior to last week. The FireWolves defense isn’t as strong as Toronto’s and Resetarits will be relied on heavily in this game. Don’t let the juice fool you and bet him to surpass 3.5 points at -180 on bet365.

Picks: Albany FireWolves Moneyline, Joe Resetarits Over 3.5 Points

Buffalo Bandits vs San Diego Seals

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The biggest game on the Saturday schedule features the Buffalo Bandits and San Diego Seals on Buffalo’s championship banner raising night. The defending champion Bandits are a 1.5-point favorites against the odds-on favorite to win the 2024 NLL Championship in San Diego. The Seals earned a decisive victory over Calgary last week, while Buffalo lost to Albany outright as 3.5-point favorites.

Bandits fans shouldn’t overreact to last week’s loss to Albany—after all they lost to the FireWolves last year and went on to win the 2023 NLL Championship. The offense looked to be more than fine, putting up 13 goals in the season opener. Yet, I do have some concerns with this defense that is missing Adam Bomberry and Bryce Sweeting due to injuries and Ethan O'Connor, who is now in Rochester.

Buffalo struggled to stop a young Albany offense last week and will now face a veteran-heavy San Diego Seals squad that is as deep as the Bandits are on the offensive end. If they don’t tighten up their transition defense and limit the Seals’ power play chances, it could be a long night for Matt Vinc and the Buffalo defense.

On the flipside, San Diego seemed to answer one of their biggest questions entering this season: can Chris Origlieri cement himself as the team’s starter? San Diego took a gamble by trading veteran Frank Scigliano and making 21-year-old Origlieri the team’s starter. While they brought in an insurance policy in the form of veteran goalie Mike Poulin, Origlieri performed well enough to secure his starting role last week, stopping 35 shots and holding Calgary to just nine goals.

He had a ton of help from a San Diego defense headlined by offseason acquisition Kyle Rubisch and young defenders Payton Rezanka and Danny Logan. Add in Patrick Shoemay and Drew Belgrave and you have a deep defense despite losing future hall of famer Brodie Merrill to retirement this offseason. Trevor Baptiste also did well in his Seals debut, winning 74.1% of his faceoffs. While faceoffs have a lesser significance in box lacrosse, the ability to play “make it, take it” makes this Seals offense even more lethal than past years—especially against teams like Buffalo that don’t have a faceoff specialist.

I think we’ll still get a relatively close game between these two teams, but make San Diego a slight favorite. Yet, they enter Saturday’s contest as slight underdogs and are as high as +115 on the moneyline on bet365.

Bet San Diego to cause problems for the Buffalo defense and win outright at +100 on better.

Pick: San Diego Seals Moneyline

Vancouver Warriors vs Georgia Swarm

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The night concludes with the Georgia Swarm visiting the Vancouver Warriors. Georgia enters as 1.5-point favorites against a new-look Warriors team.

Veteran netminder Aaron Bold was brought in late last year to provide some stability in net for Vancouver. Yet, Bold struggled, stopping just 31 shots and posting the lowest Saves Over Average of any goaltender to play an entire game so far according to LaxMetrics.

The Vancouver Warriors offense didn’t do their part either, only managing to score seven goals and failing to generate quality scoring chances.This unit should continue to get better as they build more chemistry, but they have a tall task in game two.

The Swarm defense is headlined by second-year goalie Brett Dobson and features a veteran-heavy defense that held Colorado to just 10 goals last game. Even more impressive was the Lyle Thompson and Andrew Kew-led offense that scored 16 goals in their season opener.

The Swarm have enough firepower on offense to build a sizeable lead and should maintain it with another strong defensive effort from Dobson and Co. There will come a game where it’s time to bet an undervalued Warriors team, but it won’t be in this contest. Bet Swarm -1.5 at -120 on DraftKings.

Pick: Georgia Swarm -1.5