The NHL playoffs are upon us, and the action gets started today with a couple of Central Division contests. First, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets host the Wild Card Blues, while the slate wraps up this evening with a highly-anticipated No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup between the Avalanche and the Stars.
I've listed my three favorite NHL player predictions from PrizePicks below. If all three cash, they'll net us a 3.5x multiplier.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NHL projections >>
The NHL playoffs are upon us, and the action gets started today with a couple of Central Division contests. First, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets host the Wild Card Blues, while the slate wraps up this evening with a highly-anticipated No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup between the Avalanche and the Stars.
I've listed my three favorite NHL player predictions from PrizePicks below. If all three cash, they'll net us a 3.5x multiplier.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily NHL projections >>
Saturday’s Best NHL PrizePicks Player Predictions
The NHL slate doesn't get started until later this evening, when the Jets (0-0) host the Blues (0-0) in a series-opening game. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET from the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, MB.
I'll play this goblin prop on Mark Scheifele to simply record a point. The first-line centerman, who leads Winnipeg's forwards with 20:26 time on ice per game (TOI/G), amassed 87 points this season. That was the 17th-most in the NHL, and those points came via 39 goals and 48 assists. He's scored at least once in back-to-back games, as well as registering at least one point in six of his last seven outings.
The Blues didn't close out the season on a high note defensively, allowing an average of three goals per game during their final 1-2-1 stretch of play. That includes a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Jets, where Scheifele logged an assist.
Scheifele scored at least once in three out of the four head-to-head meetings this season. Finally, I want to point out that St. Louis' penalty-killing unit ranked just 28th in the NHL this season (74.21%). The Jets' power play, which is led by Scheifele, topped the league (28.90%). Look for Scheifele to make his way onto the scoresheet this evening.
After threatening the Jets for the top spot in the Central Division, the Stars (0-0) dropped off severely, losing their final seven games (0-5-2) to close out the year. They'll try to turn things around tonight when they host the Avalanche (0-0) in Game 1. Puck drop is set for 8:30 p.m. ET from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
Dallas' defense finished the season horrendously, allowing 4.9 goals per game during their seven-game slide. Now you want to tell me that this Miro Heiskanen-less defense is simply going to flip a switch and tighten things up? I don't think so.
I'm locking in Nathan MacKinnon to log an assist tonight. The superstar centerman finished the campaign ranked second in scoring with 116 points behind Nikita Kucherov’s 121 points, and he led the league with 84 assists. He closed the season recording at least one assist in six of his final eight contests. The Avs won the season series 2-1-0 against the Stars, and "Nate Dogg" scored an assist in each game.
Keeping it in the same game, I'm also locking in Valeri Nichushkin, Colorado's second-line winger, to record a point tonight. Honestly, this might be my favorite play on the board tonight. "Big Val" has been a horse during the playoffs in recent years, scoring 26 points (19 goals, seven assists) in his last 30 postseason games. In 43 regular-season games this year, Nichushkin logged 34 points on 21 goals and 13 helpers.
Nichushkin is getting time on the top power-play unit, and while this will be a tough task against Dallas' fourth-ranked penalty kill (82.02%), I do expect him to get some quality looks. As I mentioned above, the Stars are not in good form defensively. Over the last 10 games, they were 28th in expected GAA (3.47). I think there's a good chance the Avalanche rack up the goals tonight, and I expect to see Nichushkin get in on the scoring action.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Saturday:
