NHL Playoffs Betting
The Grand Salami
4/15/11
Last night the NHL underdogs bounced back in a big way. Montreal upset the Bruins as a hefty underdog and the Sabres upended the Flyers at a nice price. To top it all off, it took overtime for heavily favored San Jose to get by LA.
Heading into last night the dogs were just 1-4. This brings the tally to 3-5. As you can see, no different than baseball or any other long term betting proposition. Finding live underdogs is always the key.
For totals bettors, the under was 3-1-1 heading into last night. Last night saw two more unders and a push, bringing the total to 5-1-2 for the unders thus far. No surprise. Playoff hockey is all about goaltending and tough, defensive play.
Something else worth pointing out concerning totals would be the “Grand Salami”. The Grand Salami, which all sportsbooks offer, is simply the grand total of all the Games played that day. For example, here are the Grand Salami odds from 5dimes.com for tonight.
Away Goals +170
Home Goals -200
Over 20.5
Under 20.5
You can wager on all the home teams or all the away teams. Or, you can wager that the total score of all the Games goes over or under 20.5 goals. On the first night of the playoffs, the home teams outscored the away teams 12-7. Last night saw the away teams (all underdogs) outScorethe home teams 5-3. Home teams have outscored the away teams 17-10 overall. However, the under on the Grand Salami is 2-0 thus far.
As for tonight’s individual Games, it looks to us as though the Blackhawks would be the underdog with the best chance for an upset tonight. They played the Canucks tough in Game 1. Shots on goal were even and they had the misfortune of hitting 3 posts. They are the defending champs and certainly don’t lack confidence. They know they can beat this team.
The Rangers and Tampa were both outplayed in Game 1 although Tampa did manage 32 shots on goal. Not ready to take the plunge with either team, yet. We’d expect Anaheim to bounce back tonight but the price is too high for Our liking. If we could get a price under -130 we’d consider playing the Ducks.
So we’ll make two recommendations for tonight:
Blackhawks +165 at Bookmaker
Grand Salami Under 21 at 5 Dimes