NHL Best Player Prop Bets (Oct. 28)
Join Daily Faceoff’s Nick Martin as he handicaps the best NHL player prop bets available from Tuesday’s 16-game slate.
Best Bet – Kirill Marchenko Anytime Goal-Scorer: +185 (Sports Interaction, play to +175)
Marchenko remains one of the more underrated players in the NHL, as he continues to finish chances off at a high rate while playing on a top line for Columbus that has consistently outscored the opposition quite drastically over the last two seasons.
Dating back to the start of last season, Marchenko, Sean Monahan, and Dmitri Voronkov have outscored opponents 36 to 12. When Monahan was sidelined last year, Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, and Voronkov outscored opponents 21 to 8.
Marchenko has simply become an extremely effective NHL skater, and one of his greatest assets is his elite shot. He tallied 31 goals last season and has put up five in the first eight games of this campaign.
He has become a player that should be expected to finish chances off at a higher than average rate, but he’s also been on the end of a lot of scoring chances this season. He’s generated 4.40 expected goals this season and has poured 10 shots on target over the last three games.
The Buffalo Sabres offer a strong matchup for Marchenko to snap his three-game goalless drought, as they have allowed 3.97 xGA/60 this season.
Best Bet – Kevin Fiala + Quinton Byfield Over 0.5 Points Parlay: +105 (bet365, play to -105)
The Kings’ second line of Fiala, Byfield, and Alex Laferriere was among the most productive units in the NHL in the later stages of last season. Byfield and Fiala combined for 58 points over the final 30 games, and alongside Laferriere, the line held excellent underlying results.
It’s been a solid start to the year for Byfield and Fiala, who had both recorded eight points in the first 10 games. The Kings’ second line holds a 58.6% expected goal share this season and should skate in some very favorable matchups tonight versus a very thin Sharks roster.
The Sharks have allowed 4.67 goals against this season and have received shaky play in goal from Yaroslav Askarov. Their defensive depth is downright horrible, and Byfield and Fiala should be able to expose them both off the rush and working off the cycle in the offensive zone.
Fiala and Byfield are also both on the Kings’ top power-play unit, which helps the correlation of this bet. The Sharks penalty kill unit has succeeded on just 65.6% of opportunities this season, so it’s certainly realistic to think the Kings power play will have some success in this matchup.
L.A.’s overall offensive upside has looked fairly mediocre recently, but it has played a relatively low-event slate of opponents. A matchup versus the Sharks is as good as it gets for opposing forwards, and I’m happy to back Byfield and Fiala each getting a point tonight at +105.
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