Just like in the Florida Panthers vs New Jersey Devils series the 6th seed is considered the favourite over the 3rd seed in this one. The Blackhawks finished the season with 101 points, which was 4 more than the Coyotes 97. The Blackhawks aren’t quite as big a favourite in this one as the Devils are in the Eastern 6 vs 3 matchup, but they do have an edge, as they should.
Phoenix Coyotes vs Chicago Blackhawks Betting Odds
Phoenix Coyotes +110 (SportsInteraction.com)
Chicago Blackhawks -120 (5Dimes.com)
The Blackhawks line lengthened from the original of -130 and it will be interesting to see where it moves going forward.
Coyotes vs Blackhawks Round 1 Prediction
The Coyotes finished out the season very strong winning their last 5 games. Mike Smith was absolutely incredible in net only allowing 2 goals on 198 shots in that span for a save percentage of 0.990. That being said the amount of shots they were giving up does not bode well for this series as they can’t expect Smith to steal every game against a team with as much offensive fire power as the Chicago Blackhawks. You have to like the momentum of the Coyotes, but Chicago also played well to finish the season winning 8 of their last 12 games and losing only 1 game prior to a shootout.
Jonathan Toews is expected to be back in the lineup for the Blackhawks and we all know what he brings to the table, especially in the playoffs, where he has 46 points in 46 career games. Then when you add in Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp you can be pretty sure that the Blackhawks will find a way to score against the stingy Coyotes defense and the stellar play of Mike Smith. And let’s not forget about Dave Bolland who saves his best games for the playoffs when he has shown he can shut down the oppositions top players and still put up good playoff numbers (34 points in 43 career games).
The Coyotes don’t have the same kind of star power up front. They lean a lot on the ageless Ray Whitney to provide offense, with Radim Vrbata and Shane Doan also expected to chip in. If Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook can shut down the top guys on the Coyotes, which I believe they have the ability to do I am not convinced the secondary scoring will emerge for the Coyotes.
A lot will be expected of Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in this series. They will have to provide a good deal of the offense from the back end if the Coyotes hope to keep up with the Blackhawks on the scoreboard. I still believe that Keith and Seabrook are the higher end top 2 defenders though and with the addition of Johnny Oduya the Chicago defense is a solid six this year, which is what plagued them last year in the playoffs with Seabrooks injury and having to play Chris Campoli significant minutes.
The one area where the Coyotes hold the edge is in goal, but I don’t expect it to be a big enough edge to affect this series. Corey Crawford has had an up and down year, but he played well in the playoffs last season and I expect more of the same from him this year. Mike Smith on the other hand has only 3 games of playoff experience under his belt so it will be interesting to see how he performs. The five days off since his last start could cool him off heading into the playoffs.
Overall the Blackhawks are just the better team and I expect them to show that on the ice.
Play: Blackhawks -120 (5Dimes.com)
Blackhawks Keys To Victory
- Decent Goaltending – The Blackhawks do not need Crawford to steal games, but he does need to be solid. Weak goals could be demoralizing for the Blackhawks especially if Smith is on his game at the other end.
- Best Players Must Be Best Players – The Blackhawks don’t have the best depth at the forward position in the league so they need their big guns firing in order to put goals on the scoreboard.
- Come Out Strong – They cannot do the same as last year and come out of the game slow. Going down 3-0 in a series is a death sentence in this league, but I expect the Blackhawks to have learned from last season and to treat every game like it is do or die.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: Chicago Blackhawks betting • NHL Playoffs betting • Phoenix Coyotes betting