Join Canada Sports Betting’s Nick Martin as he handicaps the best NHL player prop bets available from Thursday’s 10-game slate.
Best bet—Sidney Crosby Over 1.5 Total Points: +190
Sidney Crosby over 1.5 points
Crosby has always loved facing off against the rival Philadelphia Flyers, having totalled 173 points in 115 career games. His mastery over the Flyers has continued in more recent years, as he’s put up three goals in two games versus Philadelphia this season, and 13 points over the last nine games versus Philadelphia.
I’m not a huge believer in previous head-to-head matchups as a predictive indicator, but it does seem that Crosby has a little extra juice in matchups versus the Flyers, and Thursday’s matchup sets up as a good time to ride with that trend.
The Flyers will be playing the second leg of a back-to-back after suffering a 5-2 loss in Buffalo Wednesday evening. As Dan Vladar started Wednesday’s matchup, Samuel Ersson is expected to get the nod Thursday.
While Rick Tocchet deserves some credit for the Flyers’ turnaround, it’s pretty easy to illustrate that the greatest reason for the team’s turnaround is the fact that Vladar has been a much better than the average goaltender, while last season Ersson led a trio that finished with the worst results in the league.
Ersson played to a league-worst -19.9 GSAx rating with an .883 save percentage across 47 appearances in 2024-25, and has remained comparably ineffective with a -10.3 GSAx and .855 save percentage across 17 starts this year.
The Flyers have allowed 3.6 goals against per game in their last 10 matchups, and with Ersson in goal for the second leg of a back-to-back, Pittsburgh seems well-situated to do some damage offensively in this spot.
In what was a pretty decent showing from the Penguins altogether on Tuesday versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, Crosby had an off-night, which was punctuated by a bobbled shootout attempt, and he’s been held pointless in three straight for the first time since March 2024.
Prior to this surprising blip in production, Crosby had been producing at an elite rate, and the Penguins’ top line of Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Bryan Rust had been in tremendous form. I’m not worried that this three-game slump is anything meaningful, and this seems like a good spot to count on a bounceback evening from one of the most consistent skaters in league history.
Crosby has put up two or more points four times out of his last 10 games played, and I’m happy to ride with that trend given the price tag of +190 in this favourable matchup.
Best bet—Kent Johnson Over 0.5 Total Points: +110
Kent Johnson over 0.5 total points
The Columbus Blue Jackets played their first game under new head coach Rick Bowness Tuesday evening, earning a well-deserved 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames. One thing that Bowness made clear based on his in-game usage and post-game presser is that he understands that getting more out of former fifth overall pick Kent Johnson is critical for the team moving forward.
Johnson put up 57 points in 68 games a year ago but has had a nightmare campaign, tallying just 12 points in 45 games. Johnson’s struggles have come down to more than coaching, but a coaching change certainly will be welcomed by the talented young winger given that former head coach Dean Evason played Johnson less than 10 minutes in five of his final 14 games behind the Blue Jackets bench.
Johnson played a season-high 20:55 on Tuesday skating alongside Sean Monahan and Boone Jenner, and his excellent puck skill and high-end playmaking were on display. He did not finish with a point but forced the turnover on Jenner’s go-ahead goal with 1:34 left to play.
Johnson also skated on the Blue Jackets’ top power-play unit Tuesday, and seems likely to remain in that role in Thursday’s matchup versus the 32nd-ranked Vancouver Canucks.
Bowness stated postgame, “He (Johnson) deserved those minutes. He’ll keep those minutes as long as he keeps playing like that.”
While it’s a bit of a guessing game whether or not Johnson will actually start to produce at the rate we saw last season under Bowness, he looked much better on Tuesday, and he seems poised to follow it up Thursday in a matchup where he will once again seemingly have a good chance of earning improved usage.
A matchup versus the Canucks provides a good opportunity for Johnson to find the scoresheet, as Vancouver has allowed 4.30 goals against per game over the last 10 matchups and has allowed 4.09 xGA/60 in that span.
At a price of +110, I’m happy to bet into the idea that Johnson is about to start producing at a higher level in more favourable roles under Bowness, particularly given Thursday’s matchup versus the Canucks.
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