NHL Predictions – Expert Picks on Monday, April 28:
Here are Monday’s NHL predictions.
Tampa Bay Lightning at Florida Panthers (-140, 5.5)
Game Four
7 p.m. ET
This is the one series where the road team has won all three games. The Lightning got themselves back into the series with a 5-1 victory over the Panthers on Saturday and will look to regain home ice advantage with a win tonight in game four. Tampa’s Brandon Hagel returns to the lineup tonight following his one-game suspension for a late hit on Florida’s Sasha Barkov.
From a betting perspective, I am staying away from picking who wins this game as well as the total. Once again, I will be focusing on player props. Tampa’s Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point each have two goals in the series. Guentzel has feasted on Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the playoffs with seven goals in eight games. Point has seven goals in 15 playoff games against the Panthers. I also like Guentzel to cash his shots on goal prop at Over 2.5 and his alternate total of Over 3.5. The Lightning sniper has had four or more shots on goal in two of the three games this series.
On the Florida side, Sam Bennett has at least one point in all three games of this series, and we can still get him at a “plus price.” I will also target the Panthers to score the first goal of the game. Teams coming off a loss in the playoffs have scored the first goal of the game have cashed this prop in 16 of 23 games.
Game Four Predictions:
Florida to score the first goal (-130) – 1 unit
Sam Bennett Over ½ point (+115) – .50 units
Jake Guentzel anytime goal (+195) – .20 units
Brayden Point anytime goal (+190) – .20 units
Jake Guentzel Over 2.5 SOG (-110) – .50 units
Jake Guentzel Over 3.5 SOG (+240) – .20 units
Colorado Avalanche (-140, 6) at Dallas Stars
Game Five
9:30 p.m. ET
The Stars did exactly what they needed to do after splitting their first two games at home, and that was to get at least a split on the road and regain home ice advantage. This series is now down to a best-of-three. The Avalanche got a huge boost in game four as Captain Gabriel Landeskog scored his first goal in over 1,000 days in Colorado’s 4-0 win on Saturday. It was confirmed earlier on Monday that Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen is still not ready to make his return to the lineup.
I do like Colorado to win this game, and I will ride their team total of Over 3.5 goals. The Avalanche has scored four and five goals in their two wins this series, and at “plus money” for the team total, I am on board. I will take Dallas to score the first goal of the game. This goes with our system of wagering on the team that loses the previous game to score first in the following game (16-7 in the playoffs). A couple of other props that I have on my card for tonight include Nathan MacKinnon, who has had four more shots on goal in each game (24 total), and to score a goal tonight as well (goals in three of the four games, four total).
Game Five Predictions:
Dallas to score the first goal of the game (+100) – .50 units
Nathan MacKinnon Over 3.5 SOG (-148) – 2 units
Nathan MacKinnon Over 4.5 SOG (+146) – .50 units
Colorado TT over 3.5 (+115) – .35 units
Nathan MacKinnon ATG +140 – .15 units
