The NHL's penultimate day of the 2023 regular season will take place on Thursday night, which features a stellar 15-game slate that will decide a ton of playoff matchups.
There are interesting storylines for skaters on a personal level, which create some interesting looks in the prop market. There is also some value to be had with skaters moving up the roster as quality teams opt to rest star players, yet another way to take advantage of the prop market.
Here are my favorite picks based upon what we know so far roster wise.
NHL Best Bets For Thursday, April 13
Brayden Point Anytime Goal +120, Over 2.5 Shots on Goal -122
| Red Wings vs. Lightning | |
| Puck Drop | 7:00 p.m. ET |
| Best Line | FanDuel |
On Tuesday we booked a very small profit trying to catch Brayden Point's 50th goal of the season versus Toronto with the strategy of splitting a unit on two bets. He recorded eight shots on goal from 11 attempts to easily cash his SOG prop, but he could not break through with a goal.
The shot prop is down to -122 tonight in a far easier matchup, but I believe we still have the price to put a bet in there as he will continue pushing for that lofty milestone versus a middling Detroit side.
Pick: Brayden Point Over 2.5 SOG |
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Teammates will be looking for him, and he will be the most likely skater to net an empty-net goal should the Lightning hold a lead late, which is another angle to keep in mind if you have a sportsbook with live last goalscorer odds.
Point will likely not play to his season average in terms of time on ice playing in a tune-up game for the playoffs — the flaw with this bet — but still I believe this is a strong look.
Pick: Brayden Point Anytime Goal |
Nathan MacKinnon Anytime Goal (-105)
| Jets vs. Avalanche | |
| Puck Drop | 8 p.m. ET |
| Best Line | FanDuel |
MacKinnon has been the second-most productive player in the league since the turn of the New Year, and he has been in incredibly dominant form (generating 23.87 shot attempts per 60).
Colorado is a heavy favorite in this matchup due to the fact that Winnipeg will be starting backup goaltender David Rittich, who has struggled to a -3.0 GSAx and .902 save % in 20 games.
The Central division title is still on the line, and MacKinnon and the Avs' top stars will likely put together some strong performances to help wrap it up and secure an easier Round 1 matchup.
MacKinnon has scored 26 goals over his last 32 games, and he has scored at least one goal in 21 of those.
Pick: Nathan MacKinnon Anytime Goal |
Jonathan Toews Last Goalscorer (+1400)
| Flyers vs. Blackhawks | |
| Puck Drop | 8:30 p.m. ET |
| Best Line | DraftKings |
GM Kyle Davidson has confirmed that Chicago will not resign its captain in Toews, who has served for over 10 years and led the team to three Stanley Cups.
While fans probably do not want to see the Blackhawks win this game, it is entirely plausible that Chicago will do exactly that. Chicago has played semirespectable hockey recently with wins over Calgary and Pittsburgh in the last five games. That's important to this bet, as ideally what we want to happen is for Chicago to be leading by exactly one or two goals heading into the final minutes of regulation.
What will happen at that point is Chicago will certainly have Toews on the ice at center, and will be trying its best to let Toews go out with the empty-net goal.
If Toews happened to score the last goal in another fashion that would obviously count as well, but that is the line of thinking as to why this super long shot could hit.
There's complicated number of things that need to happen. I simply believe this is not quite as long as +1400 suggests, so this is a fun bet which deserves a little wager.
