NHL Wednesday best bets: Canucks to snap Lightning's winning streak
We have just five games on the board for Wednesday night's slate. With most contests priced appropriately, we'll use a couple of player props to help produce a full card of best bets.
Let's get right into them.
Lightning (-175) @ Canucks (+150)The Vancouver Canucks are a tough team to get behind these days. Their goaltending is inconsistent, they have a lame-duck head coach, there are near-daily reports about the organization's dysfunction, and the roster has plenty of holes.
Despite all of that, there's still value backing the Canucks at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The biggest reason? This is likely a Brian Elliott game. With the Lightning taking on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night, it feels safe to say they'll save Andrei Vasilevskiy - who's started five in a row - for the much better opponent.
Assuming that's the case, Elliott provides a significant raise in floor and ceiling for the Canucks' offense. Even though save percentages are way down league-wide this season, Elliott comes in below average at .897 and is exploitable.
As many flaws as this Canucks team has, the one thing it can do consistently is produce offense. Vancouver ranks eighth in the NHL in goals per game.
Elliott has struggled immensely against teams with potent offenses. He started six games against top-20 sides in goals per game, conceding five to the Pittsburgh Penguins, three to the Buffalo Sabres, four to the Dallas Stars, five to Buffalo, five to the Detroit Red Wings, and four to the Minnesota Wild.
Despite how good the Lightning are, I'll happily take my chances with the Canucks if the +150 home 'dog can generate the kind of output even average offensive teams consistently produce against Elliott.
Bet: Canucks (+150)
Thomas Chabot over 2.5 shots (+105)We're going right back to Chabot - a frequent target of late - in a sneaky good spot on home soil, where he's at his best.
The Senators' No. 1 defenseman has gone over the number in six of his last 10 games in Ottawa, recording at least two shots per contest. He gets the job done more often than not and finishes within striking distance every time.
Chabot averaged a solid six attempts per game during that stretch, offering some wiggle room.
I expect his volume to remain strong in a good matchup against the Penguins. They rank bottom 10 in shot suppression this campaign and have conceded shots in bulk to opposing blue-liners all season long.
In fact, only four teams give up more shots per game to the position than the Penguins. They're keeping company with bottom-feeders like the Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Arizona Coyotes. Not ideal!
It's worth noting Chabot hit his over in each of the three times he faced the Penguins since the beginning of last season, attempting 22 shots (7.3 per game) in that time.
Look for his shooting success to continue against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
Nathan MacKinnon over 4.5 shots (+105)MacKinnon has been shooting the lights out for the Colorado Avalanche since returning from injury.
He appeared in seven games thus far, attempting a whopping 75 shots. That puts him nine clear of the closest player (Jack Hughes) over the seven-game segment.
MacKinnon is never shy about shooting the puck, but with Colorado struggling to get wins and missing several key players, he's taking even more on his plate than usual.
That also shows in his usage. MacKinnon averaged nearly 24 minutes of ice time per game since rejoining the lineup, which is well above his season average of 22:20.
The Calgary Flames are a difficult matchup for volume shooters, but MacKinnon's combination of top-tier talent and usage makes him an attractive option anyway.
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.
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