While we know many of you love the NBA, we have to turn our focus to the NHL just for a night — there are far more games, and two spots, in particular, offer us value we cannot turn down.

It's Kyle Connor vs. Nashville Day

Trust us here for a moment, everything is looking up for Winnipeg's Kyle Connor tonight. The star left wing has loved seeing the Predators the past few seasons. In his past four games against them, Connor has finished with shot totals of five, 10, eight and 11. That's good for a cool average of 8.5 shots per game.

What if we told you that Connor needs to get only four tonight? And what if we told you that you can grab this at plus-money? The best odds we see at the moment are Kyle Connor to go over 3.5 shots on goal at +106 on Caesars. 

The best part is that this history against this team coincides with two terrific trends. First, Connor has logged six or more shots on goal in three of his last four games. Secondly, Nashville has emerged as one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL over the last few weeks. Only one team is allowing more shots on goal over the past 10 than Nashville, and it's a team we like to target on a nightly basis.

Add it all up, and it's Kyle Connor Day.

Boston is set up to pour on the goals

Boston should cruise tonight, as they so often do. The Bruins are averaging 3.8 goals per game on the road over their past 10, and Montreal is seeing 3.5 scored against them at home in the same stretch. Tack on that the Canadiens see the third-most shots against them, and this spot is looking awesome for some Bruins goals.

The kicker is the power play. Boston has sported an above-average power play unit all year, and Montreal is seriously struggling on the penalty kill, owners of the third-worst PK rate over the past 10 games. This becomes a larger issue when you see the number of penalties this team has each night, so we expect Boston to score.

We're looking at Brad Marchand to take advantage tonight. Marchand has five goals in his last three against Montreal, and he's scored in five of his last eight games. The shot attempts are up too, so we like the rise in volume to bring about a goal here in a soft matchup.

Betting: Brad Marchand goal (+175 Caesars)

In the news ...

Australian Open semifinals will be set later tonight — We're nearing the end of the Australian Open, with the quarterfinals wrapping up late tonight/early tomorrow evening. The big news on the women's side is that World No. 1 Iga Swiatek was upset by No. 22 Elena Rybakina in straight sets, and No. 7 Coco Gauff also fell in the fourth round. The current favorite for the women's singles is Rybakina at +125, with a secured spot in the semis. Aryna Sabalenka (No. 5) is the top-ranked player left in the field but still must advance past the quarterfinals. She is +220 to win the title. On the men's end, Novak Djokovic is the heavy favorite at -250, though he plays later tonight against world No. 5 Andrey Rublev in the quarters. Stefanos Tsitsipas (+350) offers some value here as the top-ranked player alive in the tournament, and he has already locked up his spot in the men's semifinals.

Bill O'Brien joins Patriots as offensive coordinator — After a year in which former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia ran the New England offense to lackluster results, the Patriots have brought in a familiar face with Bill O'Brien joining the staff. O'Brien was most recently the OC for Alabama and will be reunited with his former QB in Mac Jones. This is a big year for Jones, who enters his third NFL season having not yet shown he is "the guy" in New England. O'Brien was the head coach of the Texans for six years and he spent four seasons on Belichick's staff from 2007-2011.

Early look at NFL odds for championship weekend — Betting odds for the two NFL conference championship games have solidified here as we enter Tuesday, and it's the Bengals (-2) and Eagles (-2.5) currently listed as the favorites. Kansas City had opened as 1.5-point favorites, but heavy action has come on Cincinnati given that the Bengals have beaten the Chiefs three straight times, and Patrick Mahomes is dealing with a high ankle sprain. For Philly, they've stayed constant as the favorites at this number.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll