Best NHL Prop Bets Today: Igor Shesterkin to Make a Statement

The Eastern Finals kicks off Wednesday night when the Florida Panthers battle it out against the New York Rangers in game one of their seven game series. The Panthers may be the favorite to win the Stanley Cup in some sportsbooks, but they are as vulnerable as ever after a lackluster game six win against the Boston Bruins. They need to find answers in a pinch against a far tougher opponent in the New York Rangers, shading value towards the Rangers in the player prop market.

As for where to wager on NHL Prop Bets, the DraftKings sportsbook has been the pioneer for the market as they offer an abundance of options for us to groom though. If you have not signed up yet with the DraftKings sportsbook, you can get a no sweat bet of up to $1,500 for simply creating an account as well as receive a no sweat NBA SGP for the NBA Playoffs. Be sure to have more than one sportsbook at your disposal when wagering on player props as markets can widely vary. This also gives you the opportunity to collect other signup bonuses as well to boost your bankroll.

Florida Panthers vs. New York Rangers - Game 1 Prop Bets (8:00 PM, EST)

Igor Shesterkin Over 29.5 Saves (-115) at DraftKings

If you managed to read our Best Bets piece for Wednesday’s game one matchup, then this prop sort of correlates with our Florida Panthers team total under of 2.5 as Igor Shesterkin will be directly responsible for the Panthers lack of goals. By walling off their shot attempts, that feeds towards Igor’s over on his Saves, as well as give us an extra assurance to cash this incase the Panthers offense round back into form while covering a potential loss on the team total.

The key phrase is round back into form as the Panthers offense has underwhelmed in the last two games of their series against the Boston Bruins. Jeremy Swayman managed to minimize the brunt of damage with his standout performance in net. The Panthers now face another tough test against Igor Shesterkin who has rivaled Swayman metric wise.

Shesterkin comes into the contest with a Save Percentage of 0.923 and a Goals Against per Game average of 2.40. Better yet for Igor, the Panthers struggled to generate high quality shot opportunities which feeds into Igor’s ability to make the save. Outside of Matthew Tkachuk, no notable first liner for the Panthers finished with an Expected Goal of over 0.30. Expect Igor to make a statement in game one against a Panthers offense with limited momentum.

Bet on Igor Shesterkin at DraftKings 

Chris Kreider Anytime Goalscorer (+200) at BetMGM

Speaking of momentum, no one remaining in the Eastern Conference Finals comes into their game one matchup with more momentum than Chris Kreider. Kreider comes off one of the more incredible performances in NHL Playoff history, scoring three goals in the third period to tie up the game before fellow teammate Barclay Goodrow scored the game winner.

More impressive yet, all of Kreider’s goals were high quality scoring opportunities as his Expected Goals clocked in at 0.29, 0.66, and 0.18. As for over the course of the game, Kreider finished game six with an Expected Goal of 1.81 which accounted for 51.13% of the Rangers Expected Goals as a whole.

The Rangers offense is fast and ramps up the pace of play as we saw in their series against the Carolina Hurricanes. Generating high quality scoring opportunities will be a tough test against the Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky, but with the Panthers offense running sluggish that gives the Rangers offense an uptick in offensive possessions which feeds into Kreider’s shot attempts as well.

Bet on Chris Kreider at BetMGM