Two home teams look to take 2-0 leads and a pivotal Game 3 takes place in a Western Conference series as the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs continues with three games Wednesday. The Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings hope to take firm control of their matchups when they host the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers, respectively, while the Colorado Avalanche return home to face the Dallas Stars after splitting the first two games of the series in Texas.
The top seed in the Eastern Conference, Washington squandered a two-goal lead in the third period of its series opener against Montreal before Alex Ovechkin scored the first overtime goal of his postseason career to give the Capitals a 3-2 triumph. Los Angeles allowed a three-goal advantage to slip away in the third against Edmonton in Game 1 of their Western Conference matchup but pulled out a 6-5 victory as Phillip Danault netted his second tally of the contest with 42 seconds remaining in regulation.
After cruising to a 5-1 win in its opener, Colorado was 10 minutes away from a 2-0 series lead before the Stars forged a 3-3 tie on a goal by Evgenii Dadonov. Colin Blackwell, who was a healthy scratch for Game 1 and received the least amount of ice time of any player on either team on Monday, scored at 17:46 of overtime to even the series for Dallas.
After four best bets connected for a goal over the previous two days, here are some players with value to consider when making prop bets for an anytime goal scorer Wednesday.
Best bets
Alex Ovechkin, Capitals (+120, bet365)
Ovechkin was red-hot during his pursuit of the Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record, netting 22 of his 44 regular-season tallies over his final 31 games – including eight in his last nine contests. The three-time Hart Trophy winner and 2018 Conn Smythe Trophy kept rolling in Game 1 against the Canadiens, opening the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period before producing the overtime winner. That gave him seven tallies in eight career playoff games against Montreal. At this point, it’s impossible to think the 39-year-old won’t score, so expect him to continue to move up the NHL’s all-time playoff goals list as he enters Wednesday tied with Joe Pavelski for 13th place with 74 and trailing Mario Lemieux by two for 12th.
Cole Caufield, Canadiens (+220, bet365)
Caufield led Montreal during the regular season with a career-high 37 goals and netted one of the team’s two tallies in Game 1. The 24-year-old right wing tends to score in bunches as he converted in consecutive contests six times in 2024-25, with five of those occasions being streaks of three or more games. Caufield also scored in each of the Canadiens’ three regular-season meetings with the Capitals and has recorded nine goals in 12 career contests against Washington, including the series opener.
Roope Hintz, Stars (+275, DraftKings)
Hintz has scored only two goals in his last nine postseason games, with both coming against the Avalanche. One of those was Dallas’ only tally in the series opener, which ended the 28-year-old center’s seven-game drought to end the regular season. Hintz has failed to convert in six consecutive playoff road contests, so you might say he’s due.
Leon Draisaitl, Oilers (+160, bet365)
It’s almost a given that Draisaitl will find the back of the net in a playoff game against the Kings. Including the opener of this series, the 29-year-old has scored 18 goals in 19 career postseason contests versus Los Angeles – all in the last four years. By comparison, Draisaitl has netted 24 tallies in his other 56 playoff games. He’s been hot of late regardless of who he’s facing, scoring 18 goals over his last 22 overall contests and seven in the past eight.
Check out the SportsLine Projection Model’s predictions for every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, along with expert picks, only at SportsLine!
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