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Montreal's Juraj Slafkovsky is Lock for Big Game Versus Maple Leafs in Season Opener

The Montreal Canadiens face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs Wednesday with all eyes will be on both teams star players like Toronto's Auston Matthews and William Nylander or Montreal's Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. There is one player flying somewhat under the radar and that is winger Juraj Slafkovsky, who appears to be our favourite pick for our very first edition of the Pad Stacking Challenge this season.

If you aren’t familiar, the Pad Stacking Challenge is an open betting strategy that uses the concept of building our bank and rolling over our profits. We do this by stacking our winnings through well-researched picks given out daily that will hopefully build our bank.

We've seen epic runs of the challenge last season with our biggest hot streak see our bank total reach hundreds of dollars like our $325 bank build at the end of April. We hope to start another thrilling run Wednesday.

All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.

Bet: Juraj Slafkovsky Over 0.5 points (-120)

This may seem contradictory from our Best Bets that we posted earlier today with the prediction that the Habs won't score more than two goals. It is true that the Canadiens struggle to score versus Toronto with more than two goals in just three of their last eight matchups.

They won't be shutout however and Slafkovsky should play a pivotal role in Montreal's offence this season. The 20-year-old Slovakian forward started off poorly during his sophomore season with just 13 points over his first 36 games. He then completely turned things around on a the team's top line with Suzuki and Caufield, which was an instant success.

The trio went on to play together for 750 minutes and were responsible for 40 goals, which was fifth-best for any line combination in the league. Slafkovsky recorded 37 points over his final 46 games and raising his point-per-game average from 0.36 to 0.80 for a breakout finish to the season.

He's also been able to insert himself into the Montreal-Toronto rivalry with prominence as he has tallied four assists and scored points in three of his four career games against Toronto. The young star will be entering the season opener with a lot of momentum coming off his finish to the season and should bold well for him as he finds the scoresheet.