There’s an elimination game on tonight’s Stanley Cup Playoff schedule, and the series situation isn’t leaning in the direction most expected by any means. The Colorado Avalanche, once a favorite among the Western Conference and the NHL as a whole, are staring at the possibility of their season ending. The Vegas Golden Knights, battle-proven over their years of contention, have exploded this postseason to push their opponent to the brink. Will this Western Conference Final wrap up tonight?
Below, we’ll take a look at the best NHL player prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for the playoff action on Tuesday.
For up-to-date NHL betting information and data, check out the DraftKings Sportsbook betting splits page and player props page!
Best NHL player prop bets for Tuesday 5/26/26
Carter Hart over 29.5 saves (-120)
To be clear, a line of 29.5 saves for a goalie is pretty absurd. That’s a very high bar to clear for any netminder, especially for a guy who’s been inconsistent like Carter Hart. However tough it may be to admit, he has played excellent hockey over the last couple of weeks. His SV% over his 15 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs sits at .923, stopping 419-of-454 pucks he’s faced to this point. In this series in particular, Hart has been very impressive. He’s posted a .942 SV% and 2.00 GAA against what was the best offense in the NHL this season. The pressure he’s faced is immense as well — the Avalanche put totals of 38, 31, and 35 shots on goal. Facing high shot volume from a team averaging 33.1 per game this postseason, Hart is positioned to stay hot and help carry his team to a closeout win tonight. He’s cleared this 29.5 line in all three games of this series, seven of his nine appearances since the start of the second round, and nine of his 15 overall this postseason.
Nathan MacKinnon under 3.5 shots on goal (-120)
This feels like it could be the end of the road for the Avalanche, especially given the injuries the team is dealing with. Cale Makar is playing through an upper-body issue that sidelined him for two games earlier in the series, while Nathan MacKinnon suffered a lower-body issue last game that caused him to take just a handful of shifts in the final frame. We’ll focus on the latter here given how crucial speed is to his game-breaking talent. Any kind of lower-body injury could prove incredibly detrimental to MacKinnon’s breakaway ability and the acceleration that makes him one of the best skaters in the league — he didn’t quite look like himself when he returned after blocking a puck in Game 3. Maybe he’ll be feeling better a couple days removed from that, but if not, I really like under 3.5 shots on goal for the superstar. He’s gone under that line twice in this series so far after doing so just three times in his first nine playoff games.
