NHL Friday player props: 3 shooters to target
Thursday was another great night for our player props. Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Dobson, and David Pastrnak all came through for us as we swept the board outright.
Let's dive into three plays that stand out on Friday night as we look to stay hot.
Alex Ovechkin over 4.5 shots (-110)Ovechkin is firing on all cylinders right now, particularly on home ice. The superstar winger has amassed 83 shot attempts and 51 shots on target over his last 10 games in Washington.
Unsurprisingly, such a high volume of attempts is leading to consistency in the prop market. Ovechkin has gone over his total in six of the last eight home games.
Now Ovechkin finds himself with a plus matchup against the Nashville Predators. They have given up a lot of shots to left wingers this season and can be exploited by volume shooters at that position. We saw that first-hand last night when Andrei Svechnikov (8), Max Pacioretty (6), and Teuvo Tervainen (4) all piled up the shots while soaring past their goals.
I don't expect the Predators to allow anywhere close to the same volume as last night (67), but they have been struggling with suppression for a while. Only the Anaheim Ducks have conceded five-on-five shots at a higher rate over the last 10 games. The Predators are also a highly mediocre penalty killing team when it comes to preventing shots; Ovechkin should get plenty of looks there.
Seth Jones over 2.5 shots (-105)Seth Jones is on somewhat of a shooting heater. He has registered three shots or more in seven of his last 10 games and six of seven on home ice. He is not putting up otherworldly numbers but is consistently doing enough to have success. Jones has attempted at least five shots in nine of his last 10 in Chicago. He's giving himself a legitimate chance of hitting every single night.
I don't see that changing against the Arizona Coyotes. While they have done a better job of preventing shots of late, they give up an awful lot to opposing defensemen. In fact, only the Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets have allowed more shots per game to the position this season.
Jones plays a ton of minutes, the matchup is enticing, and Arizona finds itself in the latter half of a road back-to-back. This is a good spot for Jones to produce.
Timo Meier over 4.5 shots (-110)Meier appears to be turning a bit of a corner. He has recorded four shots or more in eight of the last nine games and attempted at least seven shots in seven of those contests.
The attempt volume is where it needs to be to hit a line like this with any consistency, as is his usage. Meier is routinely logging more than 20 minutes per night.
That's a big part of what makes him such an attractive play against the Ducks. They bleed shots and are arguably the worst defensive team in the NHL. If a shooter like Meier is going to see that kind of ice time in a good spot, he's going to come through more often than not.
Although Meier is better in San Jose, he has averaged 7.3 attempts per game on the road this season. He is generating more than enough to back him away from home ice.
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.
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