Mark Lammey
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It’s finally Saturday, which means a full day of NHL action. The NFL may be trying to hijack the day with 3 early Week 15 games, but we’ve got matchups on the ice all throughout the day. Not only that, we have some ideal matchups for player props. Those spots are usually games with heavily priced favorites. Rather than paying those types of prices, we can target specific skaters to lead those teams to wins. That’s exactly what we’ll be doing here and we have great confidence in today’s plays, so let’s dive right in.
Along with our player props, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today’s action.
Connor McDavid over 1.5 points (-160)
Connor McDavid is to points what peanut butter is to jelly. Whether you like the iconic sandwich or not, nothing has been more iconic than McDavid’s highlights over the last several years. He’s already going for his 5th Hart Trophy for the league leader in points, and is well on pace. McDavid leads the NHL with 60 points, and teammate Leon Draisaitl is next in line with 52. Having such a dynamic playmaker alongside him only adds to his opportunities. Similarly, playing the Anaheim Ducks provides great opportunities for nearly any skater.
That holds even more true for McDavid, as the Ducks are allowing 4.16 goals per game, the most in the NHL. Although the Oilers haven’t taken advantage of that yet this season, their last 2 meetings against Anaheim last year were 7-3 and 6-1 wins. McDavid racked up 5 points across those contests, and had points in the third meeting against them as well. Not that he needs any more help, but the Ducks are also even worse on the road, allowing 4.42 goals per game. The Oilers will also be out with a chip on their shoulder, as their game-winning goal on Thursday night was called back due to an offside penalty. This is a great bounce-back spot for the team overall, and McDavid specifically.
Be sure to check out our Anaheim Ducks vs Edmonton Oilers predictions
David Pastrnak over 1.5 points (+100)
We’re going to pick on another terrible team in terms of goaltending in the Columbus Blue Jackets. That’s who David Pastrnak and the Boston Bruins will be playing today. We correctly had the Tampa Bay Lightning storming through Columbus on Thursday night, and they did just that thanks to Nikita Kucherov’s 3 points. The Bruins equivalent is Pastrnak, who is having an incredible season. He’s leading the league with 148 shots, but more importantly, he has 40 points through 29 games. The debate was between Brad Marchand to record an assist or Pastrnak’s goalscoring prop. Now that we’ve mentioned them, I would suggest you to make those plays as well, especially Marchand.
However, we’re also getting great value with a plus-money play in this spot. Pastrnak has already faced the Blue Jackets this season, and recorded 2 points in that matchup. In fact, that was in the midst of a 4-game stretch of recording multiple points. One of which was against the Dallas Stars, one of the best defensive teams in hockey. Now he’ll get a Columbus team that is allowing 4.07 goals per game, the 2nd-most in the NHL. With Pastrnak leading a Bruins team that is scoring the 2nd-most goals per game, expect a blowout Boston win and multiple points by Pastrnak in the process.
Don’t miss out on our NHL mega parlay at +1041 odds for today’s action!
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