NHL Hockey
Betting Odds
Picks with Analysis
5/10/13
Friday Night in the NHL we have 3 teams facing elimination. Toronto, Detroit and St Louis are all in danger of having their seasons come to an end with the Leafs down 3 Games to 1 and the Blues and Red Wings down 3 Games to 2. Let’s take a quick look at all the Games Friday.
Toronto at Boston – The Bruins are a -215 favorite at 5 Dimes Sportsbook to win Game 5 and send the Leafs packing. For those newbie bettors out there, that’s better than 2 to 1 that the Bruins are favored by! But while it may seem like a slam dunk to some, it’s rarely advisable to lay that big of a price on any sporting event. Especially hockey. All it takes is a hot goaltender and a fluke goal or two for an upset to occur.
That being said, we think the Bruins will end this series Friday. The Leafs will be without defenseman Mark Fraser, who took a puck to the face on Wednesday night and had surgery on Thursday. Toronto is 2-12-1 in its last 15 Games in Boston. The Bruins are 15-2 in series after taking a 3-1 lead, but one trend may favor Toronto. The Bruins are only 9-8 in Game 5 with a chance to finish things off.
While we won’t lay -215, we may consider laying a goal which would significantly lower Our lay price. 3 of the 4 Games in this series have been decided by more than one goal. We like Our chances with the Bruins here and by laying -1 goal we’ll be saving Ourselves some money in the event of an upset.
Rangers at Capitals – This is turning into a home series with the home team having won all of the Games thus far. The Rangers aren’t the same team on the road and have trouble putting the puck in the net when they travel. While they may have some momentum after two wins in row, we’re likely going to stay away from them in Game 5. The Capitals are a -140 favorite currently which puts them right around Our limit in terms of how big of a price we’re willing to lay on an NHL Game. But the Caps are likely the right side here.
Anaheim at Detroit – The Red Wings are a -130 home favorite over the Ducks in Game 6. 3 Games in this series have been decided by one goal but the feeling here is that the Ducks are simply the better team. Goaltender Jimmy Howard has kept Detroit in this series. We think the Ducks win this series. Just not sure whether they’ll do it in 6 or 7 Games. We’re going to pass this Game from a betting standpoint.
Blues at Kings – The last Game of the night. The NHL playoffs are all about momentum and the Kings certainly have it. The Kings trailed 2-0 in the first period of Game 4 and 3-2 in the 3rd period before two goals 76 seconds apart got them the win and evened the series. That was blow #1. Blow #2 was an overtime win on the road in Game 5 for the Kings. If this were a boxing match, you might say the Blues have taken couple of big shots and are now in danger of getting knocked out. This series is now the Kings to win. They are a -155 favorite at 5 Dimes sportsbook which is a tad too high for us. However, we’d consider laying -1 goal in this spot. We like the Kings here.