Best NHL Prop Bets Today: Expect Igor To Bounceback in Net

It was a shocking game one performance as expectations had the Rangers in a position to take advantage of a sluggish Panthers squad, yet the opposite held to be true as the Panthers went on to win game one 3-0. Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, for the Rangers as they even allowed an own goal off their own defender's stick. Even with that said, the Rangers actually played far more competitive than what the final score indicated. Value now shades towards the Rangers in terms of player props, both on the offensive end and in net.

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Florida Panthers vs. New York Rangers - Game 2 Prop Bets (8:00 PM, EST)

Igor Shesterkin Under 2.5 Goals Against (+105) at DraftKings

As previously mentioned, the Rangers played far more competitively than what the final score indicated as illustrated by advanced NHL analytic site MoneyPuck. While the Panthers won game one of the Eastern Conference Finals 3-0, the Rangers actually won in Expected Goals 2.68-2.14. Factoring in the same quality of shot attempts, the Rangers win game one 61.1% of the time in 1000 simulations.

That makes game one’s result a rare occurrence, especially when digging into the actual quality of the Panthers goals. Matthew Tkachuk’s initial goal clocked in at 0.03 in Expected Goals while Carter Verhaeghe ticked up to 0.07 off of the Rangers stick. Two anomalies that drastically shaped the rest of the contest, giving them the chance for an open net goal to burn this prop in the first game.

This now indicates that negative regression looms large for the Panthers offense as their low quality shot attempts are poised to get stone walled against an elite talent in Igor Shesterkin. Igor has played as one of the better goalies over the course of the season with a Save Percentage of .912 and even elevated his play since the start of the NHL Playoffs with a mark of .926. Expect a bounce back performance in game two from Igor, especially if the Panthers continue to struggle with generating high quality Shots on Goal.

Bet on Igor Shesterkin at DraftKings 

Chris Kreider Anytime Goalscorer (+210) at FanDuel

Arguably no one remaining in the NHL Playoffs came into the Conference Finals with more momentum than Chris Kreider who exploded in game six against the Carolina Hurricanes by scoring three goals in the third period. He seemingly picked up right where he left off in game one against the Stanley Cup favorite Panthers with an Expected Goal of 0.39 on two Shots on Goal, but failed to find the back of the net in both attempts.

That indicates to me that he is continuing to generate high quality scoring opportunities, making his goal scoring prop worth a wager as it has juiced up to +210 after the Rangers got shut out in game one. The Rangers offense had no issue generating high quality scoring attempts but were walled off by Bobrovsky’s stand out performance in net. Ride Kreider’s offensive momentum as he continues to put himself in favorable scoring positions.

Bet on Chris Kreide at FanDuel