NHL prop picks February 8: Bet on a big game from Wild’s Matt Boldy

There are only two NHL games on Wednesday but three prop bets we’re making.

The pregame narrative: The over on Matt Boldy’s shot prop continues to be a wise wager and one worth targeting against the Dallas Stars. Mika Zibanejad is coming off one of his highest shot totals of the season, but his line is a little too high tonight. Lastly, we’re looking at Kaapo Kakko to register a point.

Find all our best NHL props picks for February 8 below.

Odds as of 7:44 a.m. ET on 02/08/2023.

NHL prop picks

Best Bet: Boldy over 3.5 shots (+125)

Boldy’s putting an obscene amount of rubber on goal, making him one of the best players to target in this market.

The young winger has 15 shots on net over the last two weeks, which is tied for 11th in the NHL. He places so high among the NHL’s best in this category despite only playing three games during this stretch, while most in front of him have played four or five.

Boldy’s impressive shooting skills make him the go-to triggerman on the Minnesota Wild’s second line, where he skates alongside Sam Steel and Frederick Gaudreau. He’s also an important part of the team’s first power-play unit, which features playmakers such as Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

Opportunity isn’t an issue as his 17:48 average time on ice this season is two-plus minutes more (15:23) than his rookie rate.

The matchup isn’t as plus as his opponent, as the Stars allow the 13th-fewest shots on goal per game (30.9) this season. But it’s not one worth shying away from considering his impressive ability to hit this over.

Key stat: Boldy has four-plus shots in five consecutive games and 11 of his last 13 outings.

Quick picks

Zibanejad under 3.5 shots (-136): Zibanejad is coming off an eight-shot performance in Monday’s thrilling 5-4 victory over the Calgary Flames, but his shot total is a little ambitious for our taste.

Despite the impressive effort, the Swedish centre has gone below this mark in five of his last six and nine of his last 12.

The Vancouver Canucks are tied for surrendering the 13th-most shots per game (31.8) in the NHL this year. Zibanejad misses this mark with too much regularity to feel comfortable betting on anything but the under versus Vancouver.

Kakko to score 1+ point (-121): Recent form and opponent have us picking Kakko to score a point on Wednesday. The New York Rangers winger has six points in his last six outings, including at least one in three of his last four.

The Canucks, meanwhile, own the worst team save percentage (.863) in the NHL across the last two weeks, according to Natural Stat Trick. New York’s offence should see plenty of offensive success.