It’s the day we have been anticipating since Boston won the Stanley Cup in Vancouver last season. The first day of the 2012 NHL playoffs. There are three games on tap tonight and the series that every hockey fan around the globe will be watching (Pittsburgh-Philadelphia) kicks things off at 7:30pm this evening.
Philadelphia Flyers @ Pittsburgh Penguins
When you look at each teams home and away record in the regular season you will notice that only a total of 4 more wins were accumulated at home than on the road between the two teams. In fact the Flyers won 25 games on the road, while only winning 22 in their home building. I understand this is the playoffs and being able to set the match ups on your home ice may be more important, but I don’t think the home team will have a huge advantage in this series. I like this series to be very tight and I think the Penguins are being overestimated by many heading into the playoffs. Yes they have arguably the two best players in the league, but the Flyers also have arguably the best top line in the playoffs and quality secondary scoring that will be able to find the back of the net. The first game is always extremely important and I like the Flyers to get a quick start in this series and make things very interesting moving forward.
Play: Flyers +155 (5Dimes.com)
Detroit Red Wings @ Nashville Predators
The Red Wings have played poorly away from the Joe this entire season only collecting 17 of a possible 41 wins on the road. The Preds on the other hand have been very good at home with 26 wins on the season. I also like the Predators at home because they are more easily able to match up the Suter/Weber defensive unit against the Datsyuk or Zetterberg lines as they see fit. Trotz will have a very good game plan coming into this series and I expect the Preds to get off to a very good start with a big win at home.
Play: Predators -128 (5Dimes.com)
Los Angeles Kings @ Vancouver Canucks
I think the odds on this game are spot on with the Kings at +162 and the Canucks at -172 at 5Dimes.com. Daniel Sedin is not yet confirmed to start so I would lean towards the Kings as a dog in this one, but I don’t have enough confidence to make an official play.
5Dimes.com offered the best odds for each of these outcomes, but I suggest you check the odds at a wide variety of betting sites in order to ensure you are getting the best value on your bets. If you do decide to sign up with 5Dimes.com, use 5Dimes marketing code AF0002879 when creating an account in order to receive the biggest bonus possible from 5Dimes.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: Detroit Red Wings betting • Nashville Predators betting • Philadelphia Flyers betting • Pittsburgh Penguins betting
Nailed all 3 of these picks – very nice, Niko.