Mark Lammey
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Despite a postponement, we still had a great night back on the ice last night after a few day break. The rust has been knocked off the skates, which is a good thing for much of tonight’s matchups. Several teams are on the second night of a back-to-back, even though there’s just 5 games on the board. That can make some contests a bit harder to predict, but that’s why we have the player prop market. We’ve broken down tonight’s matchups and found the top spots to target.
Along with our player props, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today’s action.
Nikita Kucherov over 1.5 points (+125)
Tonight will be the first game back since the holiday break for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they have an ideal matchup. They’ll be on home ice taking on a Montreal Canadiens team that helped us cash this same prop just before the extended weekend off the ice. Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars got us a great plus-money win, and Kucherov can do that same. The only debate here was between him and teammate Steven Stamkos, so we would suggest grabbing the plus-money with him as well. Regardless, Kucherov is a former MVP and is playing like one again this season.
His 49 points are just 1 behind the aforementioned Robertson and the 4th-most in the NHL. He’s also had multiple points in 4 of his last 5 games, and the only one that wasn’t was against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have the 2nd-best goaltending in the NHL. However, just prior to that game was a 2-point performance against this same Canadiens team. That came just after back-to-back 3-point games. No matter how you slice it, Kucherov is a stud. In his career, he has 41 points in 29 games against Montreal, including multiple points in each of the last 3 meetings. Since we mentioned it, Stamkos is likely to go off, but it should be Kucherov doing so right alongside.
Be sure to check out our Montreal Canadiens vs Tampa Bay Lightning prediction
Sidney Crosby over 0.5 assists (-110)
We’re not being shy when it comes to targeting the big names for tonight’s action. There’s another former MVP on the ice (2-timer) in Sidney Crosby. He and the Pittsburgh Penguins had a rough loss last night and will obviously be on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, but we aren’t concerned with them winning the game. However, the last 2 times they faced the Detroit Red Wings, they rolled by final scores of 7-2 and 11-2. Crosby was a large part of that success, and should be again tonight. He’s had at least 1 assist in each of his last 4 games against Detroit, with 6 in total and 35 points over 29 career games against them.
We’re anticipating that to continue given the play of the Wings goaltending both on the road and as of late. They’ve allowed 3.53 goals per game outside of Detroit, the 8th-worst road mark in the NHL, and 3.5 goals per game since the start of December. Similarly, the Pens have been strong at home all season, scoring 3.5 goals per game, tied for the 7th-most in the league. Crosby has certainly been a part of that success, as his 24 assists are tied for 9th-most in the NHL. Even if you see Crosby net a goal himself early, not to worry. We also anticipate him scoring multiple points like Kucherov and he can send out a helper to someone like linemate Jake Guentzel to find the back of the net.
Don’t miss out on our NHL mega parlay at +873 odds for tonight’s action!
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