Best NHL player prop bets (May 12): Two value plays for Capitals-Hurricanes Game 4

Join Daily Faceoff’s Nick Martin as he handicaps the best NHL player props available at Sports Interaction on Monday night.

Frederik Andersen Under 2.5 Goals Allowed -200 and Shutout +900

The Carolina Hurricanes have been entirely dominant defensively this postseason and are also receiving some sharp play in goal from Frederik Andersen. Andersen has allowed two or less goals in six of his seven appearances this postseason, and only three goals in just over nine periods of play in this series versus the Washington Capitals.

The Capitals brought their ‘A’ game early on in Game 3, and were able to get the Hurricanes on their heels to some extent through the first half of the matchup. Even still, they were unable to generate anything overly significant offensively, and Andersen was razor-sharp when needed before his side found their legs.

Thanks to the quietly massive loss of Martin Fehervary from the Capitals’ defensive core, head coach Spencer Carbery has allotted the vast majority of minutes to five defenders, as he has quite sparingly used Alex Alexeyev.

As a result of the hefty workload and the Hurricanes’ breakneck pace of play, Washington’s defensive core is looking quite gassed.

Typically the Capitals defence core does a great job of powering the team’s offensive play, as throughout most of the season they have moved the puck out of the defensive zone effectively and done a good job of jumping up in the attack. That strength has been almost entirely negated in this series and has made the Capitals look quite lifeless overall offensively.

The Capitals power play has also struggled in this series, and has looked fairly disjointed while succeeding on just 14.3% of opportunities against a Hurricanes penalty kill that owns a 95.5% success rate this postseason.

Should the Capitals bounce back with a surprising win in this matchup, it seems far more likely that it would be of the low-event variety and would likely revolve around an excellent performance in goal from Logan Thompson.

Even at a price of -200, there looks to be value in backing Andersen to allow less than three goals against in this matchup, in which his team is priced at -278 to win. There also looks to be value in backing Andersen to record a second consecutive shutout at a hefty price of +900.

Logan Stankoven to Record a Point: +140

It has been reported that Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky was entirely unwilling to move Mikko Rantanen to the Dallas Stars without Logan Stankoven being part of the return, which is no surprise as his skillset is tailor-made to fit into head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s system.

Despite being undersized, Stankoven is a ferocious forechecker with a strong understanding of spacing down low in the offensive zone. The play of the Hurricanes’ second line of Taylor Hall, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Stankoven has really stood out in this series, and it’s been Stankoven’s play that has been the most noticeable.

In 27.3 minutes of play, they hold an 83.9% expected goal share and have generated 5.71 xGF/60. They are finding success where it counts, too, as they have scored 4.39 goals per 60.

Stankoven has a goal and an assist in the first three games of the series, which is no surprise given all of the time he is spending attacking in the offensive zone.

Backing player props involving offensive production in this series looks pretty dicey right now because the games have been so low-event, but at +140, there looks to be value taking a shot with Stankoven given the wealth of chances he’s been involved in on a nightly basis.

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