With just five NHL games on the schedule tonight, we’re narrowing in on the best betting value, including a prime bounce-back spot for the Maple Leafs, a high-volume shooting prop for Brady Tkachuk, and Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of history against the Rangers. Let’s break down the top plays for Wednesday’s slate.
Maple Leafs ML at Golden Knights (+140, BetMGM)
The NHL slate tonight is fairly small, with only five games taking place, so there isn’t a ton here that I am super interested in. One game that did catch my eye quickly was this one between the Maple Leafs and Golden Knights, and I think Toronto has a good shot to get a win tonight in Las Vegas.
The Leafs are coming off one of their worst losses of the season, a 3-2 humbling at the hands of the San Jose Sharks at home. Yes, those San Jose Sharks, the ones that have the worst record in the NHL this season. It was quite an embarrassing loss for Toronto, and I think they desperately want to get that taste out of their mouth.
It won’t be easy against the Golden Knights in their own building, one of the better teams in the Western Conference. Vegas has also won four of their last five games, coming off a shutout of a good New Jersey Devils team, and has overall been playing very good hockey as of late.
At +140 odds, I like this as a good bounce back spot for the Leafs off that embarrassing loss to San Jose, and with the Knights coming off a shut out of a good team.
Senators LW Brady Tkachuk Over 3.5 Shots on Goal vs. Blackhawks (-150, BetMGM)
While this is juiced to the moon at -150, I still think it is worth a wager tonight when the Ottawa Senators take on the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Senators have been the definition of an average hockey team this season, with a 30-25-5 record, but they have lost four of their last five games. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have won two straight games, something they are not used to with their 19-35-7 record. This is a good spot to fade them and back the Senators here to break their cold streak, and put an end to the Hawks hot streak.
Tkachuk is the best player on the Senators, and is a very high-volume shooter that has made a living crashing the net and being aggressive. He’s consistently the focal point of Ottawa’s offense and is averaging well above 3.5 shots on goal per game. Now, he will face a Chicago defense that ranks near the bottom of the NHL in shots allowed per game. I anticipate that Tkachuk is going to have a ton of chances to pepper the net.
He should see significant ice time as usual as long as the game doesn’t get totally out of hand, and I think -150 is a reasonable price considering the matchup and his track record of going over this line consistently.
Capitals RW Alex Ovechkin Anytime Goalscorer vs. Rangers (+110, BetMGM)
I think I’ll be playing this in virtually every game that he is involved in the rest of the season. As you probably know, Ovechkin is trying to break Wayne Gretzky’s all time NHL goals record, and he is just 10 goals away from doing so. That has led to the Capitals almost force feeding him at times, although he has always been a guy that has dominated puck possession. Even at the ripe age of 39, Ovechkin is still going to get his every time he laces them up.
He’ll face the New York Rangers tonight, a team that has had some serious issues on defense this season. They have already lost their top defenseman Adam Fox for the season, and things haven’t been as crystal clear as they have been in the net with Igor Shesterkin. They ranked in the bottom half of the league in shots allowed, and have also had troubles on the penalty kill.
With how much the NHL would love for him to break the record to give themselves a storyline to post, I think he does, which means he is going to need to start putting that puck in the net. I’ll take the +110 odds he does so tonight.
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