All 32 NHL teams will be in action on Tuesday night as part of hockey’s “Frozen Frenzy” event, which will feature 16 thrilling games for bettors to handicap.
One of the most exciting ways to bet on the NHL is selecting anytime goal-scorers, especially when there’s 16 games to choose from.
Let’s take a look at three players to back to score goals for their respective teams on Tuesday.
Tage Thompson +135
Tage Thompson to score vs. Blue Jackets
After a quiet start to the season, Tage Thompson wreaked havoc in his last two games against the Toronto Maple Leafs, finding the back of the net three times while recording 10 shots on goal.
Consistently one of the most underrated NHL goal-scorers by oddsmakers at online sportsbooks, Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres now have a favourable matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night, one of only a handful of games on the schedule with a high game total of 6.5 goals.
Thompson, who has recorded four goals through nine games on 10.8% shooting, ranks first in the league with 30.44 shot attempts per 60 minutes. He boasts a 13.5% career shooting percentage and should start to find the back of the net more consistently moving forward following a 44-goal season last year.
Jet Greaves, who has recorded a 2.79 GAA and .902 SV% through four appearances, has been confirmed to start in goal for Columbus in this matchup. He’s recorded 5.3 goals saved above expected to this point of the season, which ranks seventh among NHL goalies, but Columbus has been shaky on the defensive end over its last two matchups, surrendering nine goals to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.
Buffalo, meanwhile, has averaged 4.1 goals per game over its last six contests, while ranking 13th in the NHL in expected goals per 60 overall this season.
Sam Reinhart +135
Sam Reinhart to score vs. Ducks
Sam Reinhart and the Florida Panthers should have no problem finding the back of the net at least a few times against the leaky Anaheim Ducks, who are allowing 3.63 goals per game (seventh-most in the NHL) and 3.36 expected goals against per 60 (fifth-most in the league) this season.
Reinhart has been playing on Florida’s top line alongside Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues in the absence of injured superstars Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov. He’s scored in back-to-back games to bring his season total to four goals, and he ranks 10th in the league in expected goals per 60 minutes with 1.14. The forward also has a 59.2% expected goal share when he’s on the ice this season.
Lukas Dostal is expected to man the goal for Anaheim on Tuesday, and he’s struggled to a 3.02 GAA and .899 SV% behind a suspect Anaheim defence through six games.
Bettors should take note that this is one of the few contests on the busy 16-game slate to feature a high game total of 6.5, so it makes sense to target potential goal-scorers in this matchup.
Morgan Geekie +200
Morgan Geekie to score vs. Islanders
Sometimes you just have to ride the hot hand in the anytime goal-scorer betting markets.
Morgan Geekie has scored in four straight games for the Boston Bruins, netting five total in that span, while playing on the team’s top line alongside Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak. He ranks second in the league in goals scored above expected (3.6), and boasts a wild 31.8% shooting percentage through nine games thanks to his rocket of a shot that ranks in the 99th percentile for velocity, according to NHL Edge data.
The Islanders have been poor defensively this season, allowing 3.38 goals per game this season with a -3.88 expected goal differential. They’ll put Ilya Sorokin between the pipes on Tuesday, but he hasn’t been sharp, recording a -1.4 goals saved above expected mark with a bloated 3.70 GAA and .875 SV%.
Boston will be playing the second half of a back-to-back after suffering an embarrassing 7-2 defeat to the Ottawa Senators on Monday. That should fuel the team to have a better performance on Tuesday against the Islanders despite playing fatigued.