NHL Best Bets
The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is off to an incredible start. Last night was a wild one, as both games went into overtime. The New York Rangers took a 2-0 lead in their series against the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Colorado Avalanche erased a 3-0 deficit to eventually come back and win in overtime to take Game One. Hopefully, tonight’s NHL best bets live up to the excitement of last night.
The Florida Panthers are hoping to avoid going down 2-0 as the series shifts back to Boston. The Edmonton Oilers will look to set the tone in Game One on the road against Vancouver. I’m looking at the totals in both of these games.
Boston at Florida (-170, 5.5)
The Boston Bruins shocked everybody with a huge 5-1 win on the road in Florida in Game 1. Tonight, they’ll look to keep that momentum going, knowing that the Panthers are going throw everything they have at Jeremy Swayman.Â
Swayman is the clear-cut favorite for the Conn Smythe trophy. He continues to steal games for the Bruins, boasting a .955 save percentage with a 1.42 goals against average and a +13.2 goals saved above expected. Boston has been the best defensive team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, only allowing 1.63 goals against and their penalty kill is at an outstanding 95.8%.
All the pressure in this game is on the Panthers, so the Bruins will have to lock it in even more in their own zone than they did in Game One.
Sergei Bobrovsky’s numbers haven’t been as attractive as Swayman’s, but he has the ability to bounce back and can steal a game for his team as well. Bobrovsky is skating to a .890 save percentage and a 3.00 goals against average, but I think the numbers don’t reflect how great he is at the position.
It was very uncharacteristic of Bobrovsky to allow four goals against on only 28 shots faced. The Bruins have some offensive weapons, but it’s not like they’re the scariest group of forwards.
I expect a big response from Bobrovsky and the Panthers, but Swayman will make it extremely difficult for Florida to score goals.
NHL Best Bet: Under 5.5 -120 (play to -130)
Edmonton at Vancouver (+114, 6)
The Vancouver Canucks may have won all four meetings against the Edmonton Oilers in the regular season, but if we’ve learned anything, the playoffs are a much different animal. The Cancuks outscored the Oilers 21-7 in the regular season series, but three of those four meetings came before American Thanksgiving.
I’m anticipating much different results this time around. Despite the Canucks struggling to create offense in round one against the Nashville Predators, I see this series being a track meet. The Oilers have the second-best offense in the postseason right now, as they’re averaging 4.40 goals per game, and their power play is clicking at an all-time 45%.
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are all producing at more than a point per game, while Brock Boeser and JT Miller are both scoring at a point-per-game pace.
This series has a ton of the top scorers in the NHL. If the Canucks have any chance at winning this series, guys like Boeser, Miller, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson are going to have to hold serve against the Oilers top guns.
Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs had solid showings in their respective first-round series, but neither of them have proven enough in their careers for me to trust them in a matchup like this with all of the offensive talent.
Three of the four games between these two teams in the regular season had a minimum of seven goals, and I expect the first one of the series to have some fireworks.
NHL Best Bet: Over 6 -118 (play to -130)
May Record: 11-5 (+5.95 units)
2023-24 record: 164–154 (-20.85 units)
