It's been an exciting weekend in the NHL, and now it's time to start out the week strong. The push for the playoffs is becoming even more tense and the trade deadline is fast-approaching. That means skaters out to impress potential new teams or give their current teams reason to hang on to them. With that, the player prop becomes even more interesting. However, we're sticking with 2 skaters on 2 division-leaders for our favorite plays today, and you'll quickly see why.'
Along with our player props, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today's action.
David Pastrnak over 0.5 goals (+100)
It's finally time. The Boston Bruins are continuing their trip out west by heading north to Edmonton to face the Oilers. This very well may be the Stanley Cup Final preview everyone's been waiting for. Boston's David Pastrnak and Edmonton's Connor McDavid are the top 2 favorites for the Hart Trophy for the MVP and have fantastic casts around them. While McDavid is virtually a shoo-in for the Hart and Art Ross Trophy for the most points, we're focused on the Bruins. That's because Boston's goaltending has been elite, while that is easily the Oilers' biggest concern.'
Edmonton recently just lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are the worst team in the Eastern Conference, by allowing 6 goals. Therefore, there's no reason not to expect the Bruins to light up the scoreboard in such a high-profile game. That also means Pastrnak should be involved in a big way. Again, he may not catch McDavid, but his 42 goals are the 2nd-most in the NHL and he's loved taking on McDavid and the Oilers in his career. In his 11 meetings with Edmonton, Pastrnak has recorded 8 goals. That includes a 5-game goal streak and he's never gone back-to-back games without a goal against them. His 279 shots are the most in the NHL, so we know he'll take his chances. We anticipate the best of him to come out against McDavid, so we'll trust him to find the back of the net.