Best NHL Playoff Prop Bets for May 7 (Target Mikko Rantanen and The Avalanche To Continue High-Powered Attack)
By Nate Duffett
The NHL playoffs will get back into full swing on Tuesday night, with two games on the slate. The next week will give us two games to bet every day, with the schedule working out and each series playing every other day until Game 5. Each series promises to be a tightly contested matchup, so we will hopefully see them continue well past Game 5.
The New York Rangers squeezed out a 4-3 victory in Game 1 over the Carolina Hurricanes. They entered the third period up 3-1, but a Martin Necas goal early narrowed the lead to one.
Artemi Panarin scored a weak goal on Frederik Andersen to regain the two-goal lead, and Seth Jarvis made it interesting with a goal in the final minutes, but the Hurricanes couldn't find that fourth goal.
The Dallas Stars are riding high after their Game 7 win over the Golden Knights, but they better regroup in time to take on the Colorado Avalanche. There were many questions about Colorado entering the playoffs with goaltending in everyone's mind. Alexandar Georgiev had a rough first outing, but he shook it off and led the Avalanche to four-straight wins to eliminate the Winnipeg Jets.
The Avalanche won the first three games against the Stars this season, outscoring them 16-8. However, Dallas got some revenge in the final matchup, winning 7-4. The common denominator in their games this season was high-powered offense and lackluster goaltending. It could continue during the series, but Jake Oettinger looked better for Dallas in Round 1.
Let's look at my favorite NHL Playoffs Prop Bets for May 7's two-game slate.
NHL Playoffs Prop Bets for May 7
- Mikko Rantanen OVER 2.5 Shots On Goal
- Seth Jarvis To Record 1+ Point
- Wyatt Johnston To Record 1+ Point
Mikko Rantanen OVER 2.5 Shots On Goal
The Colorado Avalanche didn't have their best regular season, finishing in third in the Central Division to lose home-ice advantage to the Stars and Jets. It didn't matter in Round 1, as they dropped Game 1 in Winnipeg's whiteout but won four straight to advance.
The Avalanche may have fallen below Dallas and Winnipeg in the standings, but they were a nightmare for the Stars during the regular season. The Avalanche won three of four against the Stars, scoring 20 goals total and registering 34+ shots on goal in three games. The team averaged 34.3 shots over the four games.
Mikko Rantanen started the Winnipeg series slowly, getting just three shots over the first two games. However, he picked it up for the remaining three, registering six points and 11 shots. If the Avalanche continue getting shots on goal at a high volume like the regular season, Rantanen will be able to get three on goal. Take this line before it increases as the series continues.
Seth Jarvis To Record 1+ Point
Seth Jarvis has the demeanor of a player who will be a force in the playoffs during his career. He plays with an edge but also has an attitude that shows not much fazes him. His performance so far has exhibited that, as he has points in five of six playoff games, tallying four goals and four assists.
Jarvis recorded a late goal in Game 1 to get the Hurricanes within a goal of tying the game, but the Rangers held on. Nothing I saw in Game 1 changed my opinion that this will be a back-and-forth series that possibly goes seven games. The Hurricanes are a good bet to even the series in Game 2, and if they do, Jarvis will play a big part in that.
After the Hurricanes lost Game 4 in the last series, they bounced back with a big victory to take the series, and Jarvis had a goal and two assists in the clincher. In Jarvis' rookie season, the Hurricanes dropped a game to the Boston Bruins early in a series, and he scored two goals in the next game to get the team back on track. Last season, the Islanders took down the Hurricanes early in a series, and you guessed it, Jarvis scored two goals the next game again to lead the team to victory.
Jarvis may be the most unsung hero on the Hurricanes as Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov take up most of the spotlight. Look for him to show up for Carolina on Tuesday.
Wyatt Johnston To Record 1+ Point
If the games during the regular season mean anything, the Dallas Stars-Colorado Avalanche series will be a high-scoring matchup. There were 35 goals over the four games, allowing for plenty of points.
Wyatt Johnston was the hero for the Stars in Round 1, and there's no reason to believe he won't keep that going. Johnston moved up to the first line after his two-goal performance in Game 3, but the poor play of Roope Hintz (one point in seven games as the first-line center), caused Pete DeBoer to move Johnston onto a line between Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn, who were struggling. The move paid off, as Johnston boosted the two veterans and he scored an important goal in Game 7.
The game doesn't always align in the playoffs with the regular season. However, if these teams play the same style against each other and average close to the 8.75 goals per game mark they tallied during the regular season, it'd be hard for Johnston not to find the score sheet.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
You can follow Nathanial Duffett's daily plays on BetStamp here.