NHL Playoffs Same-Game Parlay Picks & Predictions: Monday (5/1)

The first round of the 2023 NHL playoffs wraps up Monday night, and boy, does tonight’s game have a tough act to follow.

On Sunday night, we witnessed the defending champions and the best regular season team in NHL history get eliminated in thrilling Game 7s. Both the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins are out, which means this year’s playoffs are even more wide open.

Now, we wrap up an intense first round with the conclusion of the Hudson River Rivalry series. Let’s get right into it with my same-game parlay pick for Devils-Rangers.

Monday’s Best NHL Same Game Parlay

All odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook

New York Rangers (+100) at New Jersey Devils (-120) | Total 5.5

• • Leg 1: New Jersey -120
  • Leg 2: Under 5.5 goals
  • Leg 3: Jesper Bratt anytime goalscorer
  • Odds: +750

If I didn’t get greedy with two goal scorers, we would’ve won our Game 6 SGP for this series. The Rangers played a far more aggressive game and wound up chasing Devils goaltender Akira Schmid out of the game with a five-goal breakthrough. The game went over, and Mika Zibanejad lit the lamp in easily his best game of the postseason.

If only I didn’t add Artemi Panarin to score… Alas, it felt good to have such a good read on this game… aside from Panarin scoring.

The Rangers were deserving winners, but the postgame metrics report suggests they didn’t dominate as much as the 5-2 final score indicated. New York maintained just 40% of the possession and actually put up just 18 scoring chances to New Jersey’s 28 opportunities. The 5-on-5 expected goals margin was New York 2.24-2.01, but New York outscored New Jersey 4-1 at 5-on-5.

The difference in Game 6 was Schmid, who had been brilliant in his two prior starts. Schmid surrendered five goals on just 29 shots and gave up two more goals than expected, according to MoneyPuck.com. The assumption is Schmid will get the net back in Game 7 after keeping his team alive with two great outings in Games 4 and 5.

If Schmid returns to form, I like the Devils to finish the season off at home. New Jersey has been the better team driving play at 5-on-5 throughout this entire series. And despite being outscored 11-5 at 5-on-5, the Devils hold the expected goals advantage by a margin of 14-11. Expecting a ton of regression in a one-game sample size is a lot to ask for, but I tend to trust what we saw in Games 3-5 more than what I saw in Games 1-2 and 6.

Check out our other best bets for Monday:

• MLB No Runs First Inning (NRFI) Picks & Predictions
• MLB Same Game Parlay Odds, Picks & Predictions
• NBA Playoffs First Basket Scorer Prop Bet Odds, Picks & Predictions
• NHL Playoffs Same Game Parlay Odds, Picks & Predictions

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