Two Boston Bruins headline these NHL prop picks.
The pregame narrative: Boston heads west to take on a Colorado Avalanche team that can’t buy a save. I’m backing Elias Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy to find the stat sheet alongside the Utah Hockey Club’s Barrett Hayton.
Find these NHL prop picks for Oct. 16 below.
NHL prop picks
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Best Bet: Lindholm over 0.5 points (-137)
We’re only three games into the season but alarm bells are ringing in Denver.
The Avalanche are 0-3-0 with 20 goals allowed in those contests. They’ve given up at least six goals in every game and have the worst team save percentage (.785) by a wide margin.
It’s unclear if Alexandar Georgiev or Justus Annunen will start but neither are playing at an NHL level. Georgiev had an awful .897 SV% last year and has given up 13 goals on 62 shots (.790) so far. Annunen played most of the last two seasons in the AHL and was pulled in his only start this year.
Now, the Avs have to deal with a Bruins team which can score plenty.
Boston is averaging 3.75 goals per game this season and has David Pastrnak — one of the league’s top scorers — leading the first line and power play.
Lindholm centres Pastrnak’s line and PP1 and holds -137 odds to register a point, while Pastrnak is at a heavily-juiced -275.
Key stat: Lindholm has two goals and five points in four games.
Quick picks
McAvoy over 0.5 points (-103): McAvoy is one of the league’s top defenceman but isn’t a scorer like his opponent, Cale Makar.
Still, McAvoy gets on the stat sheet enough where I think this is a solid value. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, McAvoy has 102 points in 145 regular season games (0.70 per game).
He’s registered a point in two of four games so far and leads all Bruins in ice time while ranking fourth in shots (10).
Hayton over 0.5 points (-115): The Hockey Club started their inagural season with three straight wins, scoring five-plus goals in each game. Hayton, Utah’s top-line centre, found the stat sheet in each win.
Utah was blanked 3-0 by the New Jersey Devils its last time out but has a nice chance of rebounding on the road against the Anaheim Ducks.
Anaheim allowed the third-most goals and sixth-most shots last season and I don’t expect it to be much better this time around.
Lukas Dostal did log a shutout in his only start this year but that was against the bottom-feeding San Jose Sharks. Utah figures to be a much more competitive team and Hayton gets plenty of ice time and features on the first power play unit.
Picks made at 12:50 p.m. ET on 10/16/2024.
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Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.