I just got back from my week long vacation in Cuba last night. After getting caught up on the past week in the NHL I’m ready to get back to winning some NHL playoff bets. Unfortunately I was away in between the first and second rounds, which meant I wasn’t able to get up my predictions for the second round, but I do expect the Bruins, Penguins, Blackhawks and Kings to be the teams playing in the Conference Finals. I was very unfortunate to go 5-3 for +0.39 units on my series bets in the first round. All 3 of my losses were in game 7’s with the Sharks completing blowing up and the Avalanche and Flyers having legitimate shots at winning their series.
My 2014 NHL playoff record for games so far is 11-8 for +1.40 units and I intent to build on this as we move forward in the second round.
Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Rangers
The Penguins bounced back with a 3-0 win last night in Pittsburgh to even up this series. Fleury earned the shutout and hopefully this will get some of the fans off his back. He actually has very decent stats of 2.49 GAA and a .914 save percentage through 8 games in these playoffs, but the bad goals that he has come accustomed to allow can really deflate a team and also get the fans extremely angry. That said this year is Fleury’s from start to finish, which I think will be better for him as he knows the team will stick with him even after these bad goals.
Crosby has been very quiet in these playoffs and there is a lot of talk about whether or not he is playing with an injury. I don’t know that Crosby is as big a part of this team as many people think and I believe he should be taking a rest if he truly is injured. 0 goals, 6 assists and a -5 rating through 8 games tells me he is hurting this team more than helping it at the moment. The good thing for the Penguins is it looks like Kris Letang has found his game with 3 points yesterday. If they can get Letang, Niskanen and Martin contributing well from the back end, offense should not be a problem of the Penguins.
I’m still not really a believer in the Rangers. They haven’t been great at home this year so I think this is a prime opportunity for the Pens to get two quick wins in back to back nights and take the series lead.
Play: Penguins 1.98 (BetOnline)
LA Kings @ Anaheim Ducks
The Kings were lucky to get the win in game 1 with a Gaborik goal with 7 seconds left somehow finding the back of the net. Then a beautiful pass by Kopitar to Gaborik finished the Ducks in OT. The Kings have really found their groove and have won 5 games in a row. You can be sure that I won’t be betting against the Kings until they lose again. They are such a streaky team, which they showed throughout the season, that when they are playing well they can be argued as the NHL’s best. They’ve won 3 road games in a row and this team is starting to look destined for a deep run.
Play: Kings 2.22 (5Dimes)
Tagged with: Anaheim Ducks • Los Angeles Kings • New York Rangers • pittsburgh penguins