Best NHL prop bets for today, 12/15 – Steven Stamkos slices through the Blue Jackets

With a huge 12-game slate tonight, that means we have 24 teams to target for player props. That can be overwhelming to analyze, but that’s what we’re here for. We’ve pinpointed our favorite spots for our best plays for you to target. Before we dive in, it’s worth noting that we love the New Jersey Devils skaters at home such as Jack Hughes, and the Boston Bruins studs such as Brad Marchand. Now that you’ve got some honorable mentions under your belt, let’s check out our top 2 official plays. 

Along with our player props, be sure to check out all of our NHL picks for today’s action.

Steven Stamkos over 0.5 assists (-120)

Let’s get things started with a tried and true future Hall-of-Famer that has come through for us time and time again. Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning have been storming through opponents recently, and now have an ideal matchup. Firstly, they’ll be on home ice, where they’ve won each of their last 3 games by a combined score of 15-5. That trend should continue given they are facing the Columbus Blue Jackets, who allow the 2nd-most goals per game in the NHL. Tampa has already crushed them 5-2 this season, and that was on the road. Stamkos is also a skater that doesn’t even need an ideal matchup. 

There’s simply no reason to doubt a skater who has averaged just below or well over a point-per-game for 14 straight seasons now, and who just had a 106-point season just last year. He has 34 through 28 games so far this season, 18 of which have been assists. There’s no denying that he’s also very capable at finding the back of the net himself, but there’s more than enough opportunities against the Jackets for him to do both. Teammate Nikita Kucherov is coming off of a 3-assist game, so he’ll be hungry for a goal, which is where Stamkos can feed him the apple. Stamkos also feasted on Columbus last season by way of 5 assists across 3 games. He had 2 goals against Columbus at the start of this year, so it’s time to send out a helper tonight.  

Be sure to check out our Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning prediction

Sidney Crosby over 0.5 assists (-105)

We’re certainly not being shy about targeting the superstars on the ice tonight. Crosby is often spoken in the same breath as guys like Stamkos and Alex Ovechkin who have been great for seemingly forever. Stamkos recently recorded his 1000th point, Ove recently notched his 800th goal, so now it’s time for Crosby to make some noise. Admittedly, he let us down the last time we targeted him, but that has been few and far between. We went on a 4-0 run immediately after that loss, so let’s have him kick-start this one. We’re getting a solid price for this prop as well, with the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road. 

Although they aren’t facing a team goaltending as poorly as the Blue Jackets, they can still get to the Florida Panthers. Their confidence may be riding high given they just shut out Columbus, but they’re still allowing nearly 3.5 goals per game over the last month. It’s also worth noting that the Panthers commit the 3rd-most penalties in the NHL, which means more power play opportunities for the Pens. Of course Crosby is on that first power play unit, and also has his right-hand man back. Kris Letang recently suffered a stroke, yet is already back on the ice. He may have an assist himself, but Pittsburgh has plenty of other talent that can find the back of the net like Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin. All of those great skaters should combine in some fashion for a few goals tonight, with Crosby notching an assist for one of them. 

Also don’t miss out on our NHL mega parlay at +928 odds for tonight’s action!

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