It's still just the 2nd day back since All-Star Weekend, so we're still seeing many teams for the first time in well over a week. We've got matchups of teams vying for playoff positioning, along with games involving teams all but mathematically eliminated. Rather than sweating the outcome of those games, we can always target the player prop market. That's exactly what we've done here and after breaking down the matchups on the board tonight, we have our 2 favorite plays for you.'
Along with our NHL player props, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today's action.
Steven Stamkos over 1.5 points (+130)
We've been kicking off the 2nd half of the season with some go-to names these first 2 days, and tonight is no different. Stamkos continues to come through for both us and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The former 60-goal-scorer is trying to lead the squad to their 4th straight Stanley Cup Final appearance and has a great matchup. They'll be on the 2nd night of a back-to-back but will be back in Tampa taking on a terrible San Jose Sharks team. Firstly, Stamkos is 2nd on the team with 57 points through 49 games.'
That's helped the Lightning as a team lead the entire league in terms of goals per game at home (4.08). In fact, they're the only team over 4 goals per game in their own arena. Now that high-flying offense gets face off against a Sharks goaltending that has allowed the 3rd-most goals per game since the start of 2023. It's also worth noting that Tampa has recently put Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point all together on the top line for their last 4 games, rather than splitting them up. Such a 'perfection line' of sorts should feast on San Jose. Stamkos has had multiple points in 4 of his last 6 games against the Sharks and should slash through them once again.