Picking his spots with the utmost care, Stephen easily cashed his NHL Total of the Month by five goals this past Saturday with the Over in the Sabres-Canadiens Game 6 playoff matchup. That pushed Stephen's NHL hot streak to 40-20-2, a 67 percent long-term winning percentage. Now Stephen has found his first hockey play since then - a strong totals play on Game 1 in the Montreal-Carolina Eastern Conference Finals as he looks to go 6-1 on his last seven NHL plays. Don't miss it!
Member Notes
Today’s Free Picks
| Sport | Game Selection | Game Time |
|---|---|---|
| MLB | (903) New York Mets at (904) Washington Nationals | 4:05pm EDT - May 21/2026 |
The PLAY: Over +8.5 (-110) Action
It is probably fitting that the Nationals are 25-25 given that they lead the majors in runs per game averaging 5.5, while having the worst pitching and fielding in the league. Washington gives up an average of five runs per game and has committed the most errors.
It is also why the Nationals have gone Over a staggering 68 percent of the time this year.
The Nationals are averaging eight runs per game during their last five games.
The Mets are 7-1-1 to the OVER in their last nine games. They are averaging 7.0 runs per game during this time frame.
Superstar Juan Soto is helping spark the Mets offense with five homers in his last seven games. He has been deadly against Washington, his former team, with 12 home runs and 26 RBI's in 35 career games.
The pitching matchup is David Peterson, who has been ineffective this season with a 5.40 ERA and 1.57 WHIP, against Cade Cavalli, who has a 4.05 ERA and 1.54 WHIP.
The Mets' bullpen is overworked, while Washington's relievers have the fifth highest ERA at 4.95.
I see no reason why each of these teams shouldn't score at least four runs. So I am going to ride the Over.
(Editor's note: Stephen Nover is having a winning baseball season, is 37-25 on his last 62 NBA premium/free plays and 40-20-2 on his last 62 NHL premium/free plays with a strong NHL Totals play heading up his Thursday card. Take advantage of Stephen's winning records and elite analysis.)
Consultant Bio
Stephen Nover is unique among professional handicappers. A multiple award-winning sportswriter for numerous newspapers, including the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nover has one the best combinations of gambling and media sources in the world.
The author of two sports gambling books, "Las Vegas Sports Beat" and "Sports Gaming Beat", along with a book on fantasy football titled, "Winning Fantasy Football", Nover is a former professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas having taught a football handicapping class there. He also was the co-host of the Sunday night sports betting radio show "The Stardust Line" during the 1990's.
Parlaying nearly 50 years worth of professional gambling experience with tremendous knowledge of the players through elite deep-roster Rotisserie leagues and building on copious gaming and media sources - having worked for newspapers in the Midwest, South and West and also for legendary Hall of Fame oddsmaker Roxy Roxborough - Nover is a true Las Vegas wise guy. He helped learn his craft from such masters as Roxborough, Dave Malinsky, Lem Banker and Russ Culver.
Part of what makes Nover so special is the pride he takes in writing his deep-dive analysis, which always is unique, well-researched and sometimes entails out-of-the-box thinking.