After a light 3-game Sunday and cashing our 1 and only play, we're back with 11 games on the board today. In fact, we have some rare afternoon hockey on a weekday. Given it's a holiday, it's not too surprising, and we're happy to take advantage of it. In fact, we'll be targeting one of the first two puck drops with our favorite player props. With that in mind, let's get right into it.'
Along with our NHL player props, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today's action.
Aleksander Barkov over 1.5 points (+175)
Having a total list at 7 goals was much more common last season due to the Florida Panthers firepower on offense. That was led by Aleksander Barkov, so it's no surprise he's a part of what should be one of the highest-scoring games of the season. The captain has missed some time this season, but is back and looking better than ever. He recorded a 5-point game including a hat trick in his first game back and now has another great matchup. The Buffalo Sabres are allowing the 9th-most goals per game this season, and Barkov has already loved facing them.'
He's recorded multiple points in each of his last 4 games against them. Better yet, 3 of those 4 games were also in Buffalo. The other consideration for this play was teammate Matthew Tkachuk for the same prop. However, with Barkov being the center and Tkachuk a winger, they'll likely link up together and both hit this play. The 2 also have a great chance at doing so on the power play, as the Sabres have the 4th-worst penalty kill unit in the NHL. Barkov leads the point in that scenario and now that he's back recording over 20 minutes of ice time per game on a consistent basis, expect a big afternoon out of the Panthers' superstar.