It’s a busy Sunday filled with NHL postseason action, with four series kicking off in Florida, New York, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. We’ve scoured the lines and put together a pair of parlay tickets with NHL player props for these series-opening affairs.
There’s plenty of star power to choose from, as three of the league’s Top-4 regular-season scorers are in action, as is the top-scoring defenseman and the league's active all-time leading marksman.
See below for my free NHL picks, starting with Tampa Bay's all-everything superstar.
NHL playoffs parlay picks April 21
- Kucherov 2+ points + Panarin AGS + Ovechkin 1+ point (+717 at FanDuel)
- MacKinnon AGS + Hughes 1+ point + Pettersson AGS (+736 at FanDuel)
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Best NHL parlay picks for Sunday
NHL parlay pick 1
Nikita Kucherov 2+ points
Artemi Panarin anytime goalscorer
Alex Ovechkin 1+ point
It was an incredible season for NHL leading scorer Nikita Kucherov, who hit the magical 100-assist plateau to go along with 44 goals. It’s hard to say he ended the season on a hot streak, as he’s never really slowed down.
He finished the year with points in 10 of his last 11 games, recording multi-point efforts in seven of those contests. Zoom out wider and the Lightning winger has been held off the scoresheet just four times in his last 41 games, piling up at least two points in a game 22 times.
Against the Panthers, he’s registered a point in nine straight games. He’s a good bet for 2+ points.
Speaking of career years, Artemi Panarin put one together, with 49 goals and 71 assists, both ranking fifth in the league. His 120 points was the fourth-highest total in hockey.
He was lighting the lamp with frequency to finish the campaign, with goals in three straight and 11 tallies across his final 13.
Panarin has two goals and four points in four games against the Caps this season. After a rough playoff a season ago with two points in seven games in a flameout against the Devils. Look for him to get off to a good start in 2024.
Let’s wrap with ageless wonder Alex Ovechkin, who’s back in the playoffs for the first time since 21-22. He potted 31 goals in his season 19 to lead Washington in goals, with 13 of those coming on the powerplay.
Ovi has scored a goal in every postseason he’s been a part of and is worth a bet to do as much in Game 1.
NHL parlay pick 2
Nathan MacKinnon anytime goalscorer
Quinn Hughes 1+ point
Elias Pettersson anytime goalscorer
Nathan MacKinnon finished second to Kucherov in scoring and was one of four skaters to crack the 50-goal plateau. The Avs star was scoring with much frequency to end the season, with 19 goals over his final 27 games.
He’s a proven playoff scorer with 44 goals and 100 points in 77 career postseason games with Colorado. MacKinnon has a goal against the Jets this season and has seven points in the last seven meetings.
Quinn Hughes was the highest-scoring defenseman of the year, piling up 17 goals and 75 assists on the season, closing out the year with 16 points in his last 15 games. He was the only blue-liner to finish in the Top 15 in scoring.
He's been a force against the Predators, all as a setup man. Hughes has at least a point in six straight vs. Nashville, totaling 11 assists, and has failed to register a point in just three of 13 all-time meetings — even though he’s yet to score a goal against them.
We’ll wrap this second parlay with Hughes’ teammate Elias Pettersson, who scored in two of three head-to-heads with the Predators this season, including a hat-trick effort on October 31. In his career, the 25-year-old Swede has 10 goals in 15 games against Nashville.
This will be Pettersson’s second foray into the postseason and his first since the 2019-20 campaign which saw the Canucks fall in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden Knights.
Petterson acquitted himself well with seven goals and 18 points in 17 games. A nice splash in Game 1 would be an excellent way to kick things off in 2024.
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