NHL Best Bets 5/14/26 – Playoffs Round Two

Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke moves around Knights forward Mitch Marner during a regular season game this year.

Beckett Sennecke is 20 years old, playing in his first career playoff run, facing elimination at home, and he has done nothing but score in this series. Tonight, in front of a frenzied Honda Center crowd with the Ducks' season on the line, he continues. Start with the number that defines this prop. Sennecke's five goals this postseason tied Bobby Ryan's franchise record for the most by a Ducks rookie in a single postseason. He scored in four consecutive games earlier in this run, becoming just the fourth rookie over the past 25 years to record a four-game goal streak in the playoffs — joining Auston Matthews, Logan Couture and Nicklas Backstrom. He isn't just surviving his first postseason. He's writing himself into the record books.

Against Vegas specifically, he's been relentless. Through nine postseason games Sennecke has three goals and 23 shots on net — a 2.56 shots-per-game playoff average. The over 2.5 is asking him to perform at his exact playoff baseline tonight. In an elimination game at home, shot volume goes up, not down.The home matchup context is the centerpiece of this prop. In Game 4 at Honda Center, Sennecke scored a power-play goal and added an assist — the multi-point performance that helped Anaheim claw back from the 6-2 Game 3 disaster and tie the series at 2-2. He was the face of Anaheim's playoff surge that night, with Cutter Gauthier adding three assists and Alex Killorn contributing a goal and an assist as the Ducks finally cracked Vegas's power play problems that had plagued them for 11 straight opportunities.

Ducks center Ryan Poehling sustained an upper-body injury in Game 5 after being hit hard into the boards by Brayden McNabb and did not return. With Poehling likely unavailable tonight, Anaheim's forward depth is reshuffled — which means elevated roles, more line-matching flexibility, and potentially more ice time for the most dangerous forward on the roster. When a top forward goes down and a team is fighting for its playoff life, the stars step up. Sennecke is Anaheim's most dangerous threat, and why this looks like an NHL best bet tonight.

Sennecke goal for +280 is worth a sprinkle as well.

Knight defenseman Shea Theodore moves the puck around Mammoth forward Logan Cooley.

What better way to get revenge on the team that drafted you then by knocking them out of the playoffs? Shea Theodore was exposed to the NHL expansion draft when the Vegas Golden Knights became a team. And he has not forgotten that disrespect (even though he raised a Stanley Cup with Vegas and has been in the playoffs season after season because of this). He has hit his 1.5 SOG prop in 13 of the last 16 times he has played the Ducks and has a point in 10 of those games (15 points in total).

Shea Theodore has seven points and 13 shots on goal through five games this series. He scored the opening goal in his last trip to Honda Center 66 seconds into the game. Tonight, with McNabb suspended and Theodore carrying extra defensive responsibility, his shot and point volume won't drop — it'll climb, making this an NHL best bet.

Theodore's seven points — three goals and four assists — are tied for the fourth-most among all NHL defensemen in the 2026 playoffs. This is not a player who occasionally shows up in big games. He's been the most productive defenseman in this series for either team, and his production has come in a variety of ways — generating from the point, attacking off the rush, and converting on the power play. Through five postseason games against Anaheim, he has two goals, one assist, 13 shots on net, and 13 blocked shots — a complete two-way profile that confirms his ice time will remain maximum regardless of series situation.