Hurricanes vs. Maple Leafs prop picks: Fade Aho, Burns

The Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs meet on St. Patrick’s Day.

The pregame narrative: Offence should be hard to come by in this game, hence why we’re fading three players in our prop picks. Sebastian Aho, Brent Burns, and John Tavares are all going performing below expectations, and that should continue on Friday.

NHL odds as of 10:12 a.m. on 03/15/2023.

Hurricanes vs. Maple Leafs prop picks

Best Bet: Aho to not score 1+ point (+148)

Carolina’s not scoring much these days and a lot of the blame falls on the shoulders of its top stars.

The Hurricanes have only scored six goals across their last four games, with five of those coming in one contest against the Winnipeg Jets.

A pair of shutout losses to the New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights have the Canes averaging just 1.5 markers per contest over this stretch.

Aho’s struggles are a major reason for these underwhelming results. The Finnish forward is pointless in six consecutive games.

It won’t get any easier for Aho as Carolina will likely face Ilya Samsonov. The Russian netminder owns a stellar .928 save percentage in 21 home contests this year.

Key stat: Aho is pointless in eight of his last nine games.

Quick picks

Burns to not score 1+ point (+108): Like Aho, Burns is another star not getting it done offensively. The two-way blueliner only has one point in his last five contests.

He’s not driving offence for his team, either, as his three scoring chances are tied for 11th on his team over the last three games and he has zero high-danger chances.

Fading Carolina’s top offensive players is a good call until the squad turns it around.

Tavares under 2.5 shots on goal (+120): Tavares’ shot volume is noticeably down across his last two games. The Maple Leafs’ captain has just two shots during this stretch, marking just the second time this season he has two shots or fewer in consecutive outings.

Putting rubber on goal won’t be an easy task against the Hurricanes. Carolina’s allowing the fewest shots per game (25.7) this season.