Check out our NHL Game 5 best bets from our crew of hockey experts for Thursday, April 27.
The 2022-23 NHL postseason rolls on with a slate of Game 5 matchups tonight. And we're targeting matchups in which two first-round series could be all wrapped up.
Below, check out our hockey crew's top picks, including two player props for Lightning vs. Maple Leafs and Jets vs. Golden Knights.
Lightning vs. Maple Leafs Player Prop
Nicholas Martin: The Lightning will be in do-or-die mode tonight in Toronto and will be highly reliant on their top stars to turn the tides, especially considering their second and third lines have had a pretty rough series.
That automatically makes me very interested in backing Tampa's top stars to perform props-wise.
Despite the 3-1 series scoreline, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov have both been true to form and have been pretty dominant in this series. They have each proven themselves in big moments time and time again, and I expect them to make an impact tonight.
Backing Point to record over 2.5 shots on goal at -130 seems a very safe option.
Point has 16 shots in the series, and he missed this mark only when he skated just 17 minutes in a Game 2 blowout.
Pick: Brayden Point over 2.5 shots on goal (-130) |
Jets vs. Golden Knights Player Prop
Greg Liodice: For the Winnipeg Jets, they need their top scorers to show up. Aside from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Blake Wheeler, their top guys just haven’t stepped up. Josh Morrissey is out for the series, and it seems like Mark Scheifele is too.
That leaves Kyle Connor. The perennial goal scorer has been silenced for the most part lately. He scored the first goal of the series, as well as one in Game 3, but he’s left Jet fans wanting more.
The opportunities have been there, though. Connor leads the Jets in high-danger chances, he's fourth in expected goals, and fifth in scoring chances. He’s also a critical piece of the Jets power play, which has been red hot in these four games, scoring 41.7% of the time.
A lot of it can be attributed to being snakebitten. Connor is a very high-volume player who gets a ton of pucks on net. In Game 4, he was limited to only three shots on goal, but prior to that, he generated five or more shots each game.
With dynamic forward Nikolaj Ehlers potentially coming back into the fold, I expect Connor to get a ton of opportunities, with at least one puck lighting the lamp tonight.
Pick: Kyle Connor anytime goalscorer (+160) |
