Ryan Hodges
Show Bio
As the dust settles from a loaded Thursday night of NHL hockey, there are just 2 games on Friday night before a 15-game slate on Saturday. Tonight, the Flames will visit the Blue Jackets and the Devils will visit the Islanders. While there are not a ton of games on the board tonight betting-wise, there are a few player props with solid value. You can also find out our NHL predictions for both of today’s matchups, but for now, let’s dive into our best NHL prop bets for tonight.
Nazem Kadri over 0.5 points (-135)
The Flames have what should be a favorable matchup on Friday night against the Blue Jackets. Of course, it is too early in the season to make determinations on several teams. But entering the season and in the first few games of the year, Columbus appears to still be in their rebuild. They are 1-2-0 with a -4 goal differential and have played one playoff team from last year. Calgary has points in 3 out of 4 games, including wins against a couple of playoff hopefuls.
Granted, this is not a game-winner pick. But it helps illustrate that Calgary is better and can run up the score on Friday. That being the case, Nazem Kadri has a good chance to be involved. Kadri has 143 points in his last 2 seasons and is currently centering Calgary’s second line. If the game gets chippy, he is also on the team’s top power play with other star players. He has played 17-20 minutes in each game thus far and should again on Friday. The opportunity will be there for Kadri to be firmly in the mix in a favorable matchup tonight.
Check out our full NHL analysis for today’s matchups
Timo Meier over 0.5 points (+100)
Timo Meier has been quiet to start the season but it is not going to last forever. The Devils are too good and too fast, and Meier plays on too good of a line to not break out at some point soon. Meier is on the team’s second line with Nico Hischier and Ondrej Palat. He is also on the second power play with Hischier, Dawson Mercer, Dougie Hamilton and Alexander Holtz. The opportunity will be there for Meier to get on the score sheet with a point.
Although the Islanders typically flex good goal prevention and have early on this year, Devils-Islanders games were higher scoring last season. In 3 head-to-head games last season, the average game total was 7.00 with 62.66 shots on goal per game and 5 power plays per game. Something about the pure matchup of these teams has led to more offense than defense and goaltending recently. If these teams hold to their trends from last season, this game could bring more offense than anticipated. If that happens, a +100 value for Meier to collect a point has plenty of appeal.
