An Original Six matchup between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins is featured on Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey this week.
Will Montreal be able to overcome the odds and begin climbing up from the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings?
The Seattle Kraken visit the Dallas Stars, plus the Toronto Maple Leafs travel to face the Arizona Coyotes in games available to watch on SN NOW Premium.
Here are a few player prop bets to keep an eye on during another light Wednesday slate:
Any reason to think Pastrnak, Hall slow down?
There must be some serious carb loading at Boston Bruins team meals lately because “Pasta” has served himself up quite the week. David Pastrnak, along with linemates Taylor Hall and Erik Haula, have played key roles on Boston’s impressive 5-1-0 run to start 2022.
Pastrnak and Hall have nine combined points in the past two games alone as the Bruins, fresh off back-to-back blowout wins over Tampa and Washington, welcome a faltering Canadiens team to TD Garden.
Montreal returns to action for the first time since New Year’s Day, when a 5-2 loss to the Panthers extended the Habs’ current slump to 1-8-2 since their most recent regulation win back in late November.
The Canadiens have allowed four or more goals 11 times in their past 18 games overall and the Bruins have chalky puckline odds, plus there’s an implied total of at least six goals Wednesday night – all that’s to say oddsmakers are leaning toward the Bruins winning relatively decisively.
Pastrnak is expected to register a point with -244 anytime odds but there’s a huge shift in value if he musters a third consecutive multi-point outing. A second point for Pastrnak sees +254 odds. On the goal market, Pasta’s +110 odds are the shortest of any player in the game – not entirely surprising, considering his current hot streak plus the fact he has 14 goals in 20 career games against Montreal.
Like Pastrnak, Hall also averages better than a point-per-game when playing the Habs. Hall’s anytime point odds for Wednesday night are a more modest -147 and his +150 anytime assist odds carry value, with Hall registering six assists on his current six-game point streak. A third straight multi-point outing from Hall would mean a +393 return.
Taylor Hall on his chemistry with David Pastrnak: “I love playing with Pasta…he’s such a great player and has a real good hockey sense, real good way of getting open and staying open.” pic.twitter.com/l2KAGzeIX8
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 11, 2022
Monitor Gostisbehere shots against Maple Leafs
Although Toronto and Arizona find themselves at opposite ends of the NHL standings, Wednesday’s encounter at Gila River Arena sets up as a classic letdown spot for the Maple Leafs, who blew a two-goal third-period lead yet held on to beat Vegas in a shootout late Tuesday, then had to travel and play the following day.
Petr Mrazek is expected to make his fourth start of the season and first NHL start in more than a month. He has given up 11 goals in 11 periods this season, so does that mean the Coyotes have an opportunity to exploit a netminder who hasn’t yet been able to settle into a groove?
Arizona would be wise to pepper Mrazek with shots as often as possible, and Shayne Gostisbehere has a knack for getting pucks through traffic and on net to drive offensive chances for his team.
If Gostisbehere registers just two shots on goal, it has -135 odds and three shots is +150 – this is where being able to customize certain markets to increase value comes in handy and it will fluctuate depending on the sportsbook you use. Keep in mind, Gostisbehere has an inconsistent shot output, logging one or zero shots on goal in four of his past five games.
Gostisbehere has 40 shots on goal in his 15 career games playing Toronto.
BARGAIN HUNTING
Here are a few players in Wednesday night’s action laying promising goal odds to keep an eye on:
Phil Kessel +275 to score vs. Maple Leafs:
Phil the Thrill hasn’t been scoring at his usual pace, but could a meeting with one of his former teams help him recapture his scoring touch? Kessel, one of five former Leafs on the Coyotes, has only two goals in his past 16 games.
Heiskanen (+400)/Klingberg (+500) to score vs. Kraken:
The Stars are going to come out fired-up after a heartbreaking Sunday loss to the St. Louis Blues. They play host to an expansion Seattle Kraken squad on a six-game losing streak, during which they’ve allowed 27 goals.
Dallas defencemen have contributed only nine goals this season. Miro Heiskanen leads the way with four and has points in four straight, so the +400 tag is tempting. Also, since John Klingberg has been in the news this week, why not look at his juicy +500 odds? He has only one goal this season but it came during his current stretch where he has eight points across his past seven games.
All listed betting odds via Bodog as of Wednesday afternoon except Matthews’ odds which were from the DraftKings sportsbook
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