3 NHL Shots on Goal Props to Back on October 13: Benson, Doan, and Guenther Overs

The NHL slate on October 13 is still shaking out its early-season identity, but one trend is already clear: shots on goal props are hitting at a healthy rate for players who get consistent minutes and shoot the puck a lot. Tonight gives us two building blocks from the same team and one high-volume winger across the country, all lined up in spots that favor plenty of pucks on net.

Buffalo visits Montreal at Bell Centre, and Utah hosts Toronto at Delta Center. Both games feature forwards who’ve been feeding the shot clock early this season, and the matchups do them favors. Here’s why these three shots on goal overs make sense tonight.

Zach Benson Over 1.5 Shots on Goal (-135)

Benson is coming off a career year with Buffalo — 13 goals, 43 points, and 116 shots on goal across 65 regular-season games last year, a per-game shot rate that comfortably clears 1.5 most nights. He’s locked into a featured role on the wing and is seeing close to 19 minutes a night early in 2026-27, which is top-six usage for a 21-year-old the Sabres clearly believe in.

Montreal’s blue line is dealing with real absences tonight, most notably Florian Xhekaj listed day-to-day and the Canadiens working through a thinner group in front of the crease. Buffalo has also been without captain Rasmus Dahlin for this matchup, which has historically meant more offensive responsibility funneling to the forward group to compensate — and more pucks finding their way toward the net from Buffalo’s wingers.

Benson has gone over this shot total in the majority of his appearances to open the season, and with ice time trending up rather than down, this line looks beatable even on a tougher offensive night.

Josh Doan Over 1.5 Shots on Goal (-130)

Doan set career highs last season with 25 goals, 27 assists, and 170 shots on goal across 82 games — a workload that made him one of Buffalo’s most reliable shot generators on a nightly basis. That volume hasn’t disappeared with the calendar flip; he’s already shown the same shoot-first instincts early in the new campaign, including a three-shot effort in his most recent outing against this exact Montreal opponent.

What makes this appealing beyond the raw shot count is the matchup context. Montreal is working with a patchwork goaltending situation — Samuel Montembeault is on injured reserve, and the Canadiens have leaned on a timeshare between Jacob Fowler and Jakub Dobes. When teams are uncertain in net, opposing shooters tend to test early and often rather than look for the perfect look, and Doan has never needed much encouragement to fire.

Buffalo also needs secondary scoring to support Tage Thompson up front, and Doan’s power-play role — he finished second on the team in power-play goals last season — gives him another avenue to pile up shot attempts if Montreal takes penalties, which has been a theme early in their season.

Dylan Guenther Over 3.5 Shots on Goal (+130)

Guenther has been nothing short of electric to start 2026-27, posting three goals and three assists through his first six games while averaging nearly 17 minutes a night, almost all of it with power-play time included. He fired 242 shots on net across 79 games last season as part of a 40-goal breakout, and he’s already shown he can erupt for multi-shot, multi-goal performances — he scored twice in a span of 78 seconds in a blowout win over this same Toronto team earlier this year.

Utah is a significant home favorite tonight, and favorites who are expected to control play generally see their top shooters rack up volume as the game stays in the opponent’s end. Guenther’s 13.6% shooting rate this season tells you he’s not just shooting for volume’s sake — the puck is finding dangerous lanes, which means he’s getting second and third looks in a single shift rather than one-and-done attempts.

At plus-money, this is the kind of number that rewards patience. Guenther doesn’t need a huge night by his own standards to clear 3.5 — he just needs an average one, and recent history says that’s exactly what’s coming.

Lock These In

All three of these shots on goal props lean on the same idea: feature players, consistent ice time, and matchups that don’t project to slow anyone down. Check your BetMGM review or another trusted book for the latest numbers before kickoff, since lines can shift as rosters and goalie confirmations finalize closer to puck drop.

• Zach Benson OVER 1.5 Shots on Goal (-135)
• Josh Doan OVER 1.5 Shots on Goal (-130)
• Dylan Guenther OVER 3.5 Shots on Goal (+130)

Three different teams, three different roles, one shared theme: volume shooters in spots built for volume. Back all three and let the shot clocks do the work.