Panthers vs. Maple Leafs prop bets: Roll with Matthews, Tavares
The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
The pregame narrative: Both Matthew Tkachuk and Auston Matthews are peppering puck-stoppers with shots, and we’re looking to take the over on both of their shot totals. John Tavares is generating plenty of offence, and we’ll happily take the plus-money odds on him registering two-plus points.
NHL odds as of 10:40 a.m. on 03/29/2023.
Panthers vs. Maple Leafs prop picks
Best Bet: Tkachuk over 3.5 shots (-118)
Tkachuk is one of the NHL’s top shooters, and we’re picking him to usurp his shot line.
The feisty forward is eighth in the NHL in shots (287) this season. His average of 4.04 per game is a career-high and makes this line a very manageable one.
It also helps that he’s directing plenty of pucks on goal recently, totalling 71 shots in his last 15 games. That’s an average of 4.7 shots per contest, an even more encouraging mark entering this game.
The matchup isn’t fantastic as the Maple Leafs are allowing the sixth-fewest shots per game (29.3) this season, but that didn’t stop him from recording four shots against Toronto this past Thursday.
Key stat: Tkachuk has four-plus shots in 11 of his last 15 games.
Quick picks
Matthews over 4.5 shots (+105): With Matthews looking as healthy as he has all season, bettors should feel confident backing the superstar forward.
He followed up a 15-shot performance against the Carolina Hurricanes with five shots against the Nashville Predators, now clearing this line in six of his last nine outings.
The matchup is a plus one for Matthews as the Panthers are allowing the 12th-most shots per game (31.6) this season while tying for the eighth-most per game (32) over the last seven days.
Tavares to score 2+ points (+230): Tavares isn’t shooting the puck all that much and he isn’t scoring many goals. The Maple Leafs captain, however, is still finding the stat sheet with great frequency. He has 10 points in his last six games, including four multi-point outings during this stretch.
The Panthers seem like a great matchup for Tavares to have a night against.
Aside from him scoring three points in last Thursday’s meeting, the Cats are allowing the ninth-most goals per game (3.45) this season and own the second-worst save percentage in the NHL (.844) over the last seven days, according to Natural Stat Trick.
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