NHL bets: Two plus-money SOG plays for playoff action

We're onto our first full week of playoff hockey, and it's going to be a great one around here. We have two new series beginnings and a pair of matchups heading into big Game 2s. We touch it all here with a pair of plus-money looks.

Auston Matthews over 4.5 SOG & Martin Necas over 2.5 SOG (+172 FanDuel)

I expect Auston Matthews to push the pace here as Toronto looks to even the series with Boston, and he finished Game 1 with five SOG on 10 attempts. I like Matthews more than John Tavares (who had six SOG in Game 1), as all five of Matthews's shots came on even strength, while only two of Tavares's did. That is where the majority of the game will be played and is what I prefer to trust.

Matthews is now over this line in five of his last six against the Bruins, averaging 12 attempts per game across his past five meetings. 

I'll pair the Maple Leafs star with Martin Necas, who was one of our targets in Game 1 for Carolina. It took an empty netter for Necas to hit three SOGs, but the volume was there, as the winger finished with eight attempts.

Necas now has 8+ attempts in three straight games and is over this line in four straight against the Islanders and nine of the past 12, including six of seven at home.

Leon Draisaitl over 2.5 SOG (+110 DraftKings)

This marks the third straight postseason meeting between Edmonton and Los Angeles, which provides us a rich sample size on which to glean insights from. When you look back on these meetings between the Oilers and Kings, you see fireworks with plenty of goals and a flood of shots on goal.

One name in particular has really stepped up come postseason time, that being Leon Draisaitl.

Last postseason, Draisaitl logged three or more shots in 11 of 12 games, including every single meeting with the Kings.

At home against Los Angeles over the past two postseasons, Draisaitl is over 2.5 shots in six of seven games, averaging 3.86 SOG per game. In the two Game 1s at home, Draisaitl finished with five and six shots.

Draisaitl has been quiet against this prop toward the end of this season, but in a year that the Oilers know they need to get over the hump, I'm expecting one of their top players to step up.

For good measure, Los Angeles has been most vulnerable to shots from centers of late, and Draisaitl centers Edmonton's second line.