Betting Breakdown: Player props to watch Saturday night in the NHL

The final Saturday of the NHL regular season has arrived, so it’s the perfect time to change the format of this column.

Last week wrapped up the season-long game we’ve played all year with the public’s most popular picks going head to head with a coin on the moneyline. 

The game was simple: each week I found the teams with the most money wagered on their moneyline and pinned them against a coin, which made its selections by heads being home and tails being away.

The public limped home with a 1-2 week to bring its record to 32-28 on the season, a winning number but not all that impressive considering most weeks the most popular teams were normally heavy favourites.

Speaking of not impressive, the 2-1 week for the coin saw lady luck finish 24-38 on the season, 10 games behind the picks of you, the reader.

This is the second sport I have tried coin flips for, with the first a few years ago in the NFL with the coin having decent results picking games against the spread.

Maybe next year I will run this experiment back with picks on the puck line as I continue to find the best betting market for a coin.

Shifting our focus to this week, I have found a few more props for this final Saturday of the season while we try to finish strong after a successful year of prop betting.

Let’s get to those picks.

Player props to watch 

It was a disappointing 1-3 Saturday last week to drop our record to 43-30-1 with this picks. 

Let’s finish strong. 

Logan Cooley has failed to record a point in seven of his last eight games against top-10 defences for goals allowed. The Dallas Stars are third in the NHL, allowing just 2.6 goals per game.

Justin Faulk has at least one point in seven of his last nine games against bottom-10 defences for assists allowed. The Seattle Kraken are 23rd in the NHL, allowing 5.5 assists per game.

Michael Bunting doesn’t have a point in 10 of his last 12 games against top-10 defences for goals allowed. The Vegas Golden Knights are third in the NHL, allowing 2.6 goals per game.

First Goal Scorer In Toronto 

It’s the final Saturday of the season, so, like I said off the top, it’s the perfect time to change things up.

Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs will wrap up their season series with the Montreal Canadiens.

Who wins the game is irrelevant to me as I’m looking to hit a big winner with the first goal of the game. 

Cole Caufield opened the scoring when the teams first met this season in October. William Nylander put Toronto on the board first in their November meeting, and Nick Suzuki gave Montreal a 1-0 lead in their most recent game.

Here is a look at who is expected to open the scoring tonight. 

I’ll take a flier on Patrik Laine at +1900.

The 26-year-old has eight first-period goals this year, with seven of them coming on the power play.

With the two sides renewing this rivalry right before the playoffs, I’ll roll the dice and hope for an early Toronto penalty to set up Laine to give Montreal an early lead.