Ryan Hodges
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Saturdays in October are always fantastic sports days that are now made better with the start of the NHL season. There are 14 games on Saturday with the first puck dropping at 1:00 pm ET and the final game starting at 10:30 pm ET.
Along with our player props, be sure to check out all of today’s NHL predictions.
Mikko Rantanen over 1.5 points (+140)
The Colorado Avalanche won their season opener in dominant fashion by a score of 5-2 over a very solid Kings team. They are healthy again and they were really buzzing on Wednesday. Tonight, they get a very soft matchup against the Sharks, who appear to have a good shot at winning the draft lottery next year. The Avalanche should be able to run up the score just fine in this game. That being the case, Mikko Rantanen has a great chance to be a contributor.
In Colorado’s win over Los Angeles on Wednesday, Rantanen had 2 goals and 2 assists. To reiterate, the Kings are significantly better than the Sharks. If Rantanen can tally 4 points against a good team, then getting +140 odds for him to tally 2+ points against a bad team is great value. He is on the first line with Nathan MacKinnon and is on the first power play with MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Artturi Lehkonen and Ryan Johansen. The opportunity should be there for Rantanen to produce once again.
Leon Draisaitl over 1.5 points (+115)
The Oilers were embarrassed in their season opener in Vancouver on Wednesday as the Canucks won 8-1. The Oilers start their season with a home and home against the Canucks, so they immediately get a chance to return the favor. After such an awful loss, the Oilers should be coming out with plenty of urgency to right the ship. Look for a much better effort from Edmonton tonight led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The Oilers could not muster up much offense and Draisaitl was the team’s lone goalscorer. He follows up a career year last season as he racked up 52 goals and 76 assists for 128 points in 80 games played. It was his 4th season in the last 5 of collecting 100+ points. In the playoffs, he continued the torrid pace as he had 13 goals and 5 assists for 18 points in 12 games. When Draisaitl is a man on a mission, he can seemingly produce at will. Playing with McDavid only reinforces Draisaitl’s production. Another plus-money value for a superstar to collect 2+ points is worth taking.
Check out our NHL mega parlay for Saturday’s slate
