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

Andrei Svechnikov Anytime Goalscorer: +250 Sports Interaction

The Carolina Hurricanes steamrolled the New Jersey Devils in Game 1, a game that was every bit as uneven as the 4-1 scoreline suggested. The Hurricanes are currently massive -800 favorites to win the series, and it’s hard to see how that number isn’t entirely fair.

The Devils allowed 20 high-danger scoring chances in Game 1 and 45 shots against, despite spending most of the contest trailing by several goals. They suffered another tough break as top defender Luke Hughes suffered an upper-body injury and will miss Tuesday’s matchup.

One of the reasons that I’m quite high on the Hurricanes’ chances of making a deep run is my belief that they hold better offensive depth than is widely credited. One player in particular who may be flying a little under the radar this postseason is Andrei Svechnikov, who has plenty of offensive upside but had a disappointing regular season, producing only 20 goals and 48 points in 72 games played.

The Hurricanes’ second line of Svechnikov, Taylor Hall, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi was entirely dominant in Game 1, finishing with a 95.2% expected goal share in even-strength play and combining for four points, though two of those came on Svechnikov’s empty-net goal.

Svechnikov’s line likely won’t spend much time playing against the Devils’ defensively dominant top line led by likely Selke Trophy candidate Nico Hischier, and should continue to play in some very favorable matchups in this series.

In 43.8 minutes of regular season play together, Carolina’s second trio held a 60.8% expected goal share and generated 4.11 goals per 60.

While it took an empty-netter for Svechnikov to finally break through in Game 1, he generated a game-high 1.25 individual expected goals and had eight shot attempts. He’s a talented shooter capable of finishing chances at an above-average rate and looks to be a good bet to score at +250 considering his output of chances in the series opener.

Nikita Kucherov Over 1.5 Total Points: +130 Sports Interaction

The Battle of Florida between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning should be one of the best opening round series and will finally get underway Tuesday with the Lightning playing host to the Panthers.

The Panthers comfortably bested the Lightning in five games in the opening round last season, but there are plenty of arguments that suggest Tampa Bay should have a much better chance this time around, particularly in the first two matchups on home ice, as Aaron Ekblad will be serving the final two games of his suspension for PED use.

Ekblad’s absence means Seth Jones will continue to play on the top pairing, and he has been highly ineffective since coming over via trade from the Chicago Blackhawks. While Gustav Forsling’s pairing has typically been a massive strength and helped to keep Kucherov in check in last year’s playoffs, it’s become a weakness in the time since Jones arrived in Florida.

Kucherov put up seven points during the five-game series between these two teams, in which the Lightning were heavily outplayed overall. Kucherov has put up 106 points over his last 82 playoff games, and his incredible playmaking ability makes him highly effective despite there being less time and space in the postseason.

Kucherov put up 38 points in his final 25 regular season games and ultimately won the Art Ross as a result. It’s obviously tough to generate versus the Panthers, but I’m not sold that the Panthers will be as dominant this postseason as they were last year, and feel a long price of +130 is good number to back Kucherov recording two or more points in the series opener.

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