There have been a lot of goals so far this week in the NHL with at least one team putting up six each night and hockey fans have also witnessed a handful of impressive individual efforts. In fact, we’ve seen at least one player register a four-point outing every night this week.
With 11 games on the Thursday schedule, including five Canadian clubs and the league’s top four scorers set for action, will that trend continue and can fans expect more teams and players to continue lighting the lamp at a rapid pace?
There’s a plethora of intriguing matchups to focus on tonight, including the Islanders locking horns with the Bruins before Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins go to Hollywood to face the Kings in a televised Sportsnet double-header.
Thursday’s lone all-Canadian matchup sees NHL assist leaders Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes and their streaking Vancouver Canucks visit the Ottawa Senators.
Hughes has 10 assists and 12 points in his past four games, while Pettersson is riding a six-game point streak and has at least one assist in eight of his 12 appearances so far this season. DraftKings is giving each Canucks star roughly a 50/50 shot at earning an apple in Ottawa.
Hughes vs. OTT: Over 0.5 assists (-125) | Under 0.5 assists (-105)
Pettersson vs. OTT: Over 0.5 assists (-105) | Under 0.5 assists (-125)
On the Ottawa side, Tim Stützle is coming off a one-goal, three-assist outing in his team’s 6-3 win over Toronto Wednesday. It was Stützle’s third goal of the season, which broke a seven-game drought. The Senators’ winger is coming off a career year during which he scored 39 goals and totalled 90 points. He scored in back-to-back games on eight separate occasions last season. Stützle had six two-goal games in 2022-23 and one hat trick.
Stützle vs. VAN: anytime goal +165 | two goals +1100 | three goals +80000
IS FACING SHARKS THE ANSWER FOR STRUGGLING OILERS?
The Montreal Canadiens are the only team on a longer active losing streak than Edmonton and, despite much hype prior to the season, the Oilers have only one more win than the last-place San Jose Sharks who finally ended their lengthy losing streak two nights ago. Before San Jose’s 2-1 win over the Flyers Tuesday, the Sharks had allowed 10 goals against in back-to-back games. Are those abysmal kinds of outings completely out of the Sharks’ collective system, or can Edmonton’s stars get back on track against a team lacking in many areas?
Edmonton has had three days to regroup from a 6-2 loss to the Canucks. On one hand, it’s a great rebound spot for the Oilers. On the other, Edmonton has at times been woeful and it could be an opportunity for the Sharks to win a second consecutive game and equal Edmonton’s win total on the season.
Sharks team total vs. EDM: Over 2.5 goals (-110) | Under 2.5 (-130)
McDavid vs. SJS: Over 1.5 points (-190) | Under 1.5 (+140)
Draisaitl vs. SJS: Over 1.5 points (-110) | Under 1.5 (-130)
Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Evander Kane, respectively, have the shortest goal and multiple goal odds in the game via Bet365. Kane scored once in three games versus his former team last season.
Draisaitl anytime goal -140 | two or more +375 | three or more +1600
McDavid anytime goal -115 | two or more +450 | three or more +2200
Kane anytime goal +125 | two or more +750 | three or more +4000
POINTS LEADERS ON STRONG PP TEAMS
Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov leads all players with 22 points through 13 games and he’s well on his way to earning some weekly honours with 11 points on his current three-game streak. The Lightning star has multiple points in more than half of his games his season so his point total at Sports Interaction is somewhat chalky at home against the Blackhawks. Interestingly, Kucherov’s anytime power-play point and over 1.5 total points have identical odds.
Kucherov points vs. CHI: Over 1.5 (-150) | Under 1.5 (+110)
Kucherov PP points vs. CHI: Over 0.5 (-150) | Under 0.5 (+110)
The Rangers and Lightning are tied for second place behind New Jersey for the most efficient power play in the league, clicking at 34.1 per cent.
Artemi Panarin, like his countryman Kucherov and the Canucks duo mentioned above, is aiming to stay in the top four in the Art Ross race when New York hosts Minnesota.
Panarin points vs. CHI: Over 1.5 (+160) | Under 1.5 (-222)
Panarin PP points vs. CHI: Over 0.5 (-110) | Under 0.5 (-120)
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