We sat out yesterday’s Pengins/Capitals game, feeling it was too close to call.
That proved to be the case as the teams went to OT before Washington claimed a 4-3 win in what was a great game to watch. The Penguins are Jon’s second-favourite team, but we’re on Washington for a series bet and were happy with that outcome.
Tonight, two more series get started: St. Louis/Dallas and Nashville/San Jose. We’ve said before that we’re hesitant to bet the first games of series, but there’s an angle to the Blues/Stars game that we like so we’ll take a shot with a bet in that contest.
Good luck with your bets!
Odds below are at the time we made the pick. Be sure to check out our live odds page for updated odds on today’s games.
The Blues are coming off a hard-fought, emotional, 7-game series win over the Blackhawks last round. They’ve had just a couple of days to recover from that Game 7 win, and we just don’t think they can match that same intensity for Game 1 against the Stars.
If intensity is down a bit, we think we’ll see that more at the defensive end of the ice. Blues players may not be quite as desperate to hustle back on the backcheck or block a shot tonight as they were last series against the Blackhawks.
We all know Dallas is happy to play a free-flowing offensive game, and they’ll try to dictate that pace on home ice tonight. There were 9 goals scored in EACH of the Stars’ last 2 games against the Wild in Round 1, and a combined total of 13 goals in the 2 games before that. St. Louis played 3 straight overs in Round 1 until the total pushed in Game 7.
With both offences in fine form and the possibility for a less intense defensive effort from the Blues (who are the defensive-minded team of these two), we like the potential for offensive fireworks in this one.
Rather than bet the Over 5 at -140 odds (the line opened at -125, and we missed getting the best of that number), we’ll shoot for the Over 5.5 on the alternate line at a nice underdog price. To win on the Over 5, we’d need 6 goals anyway. Going with over 5.5 means we lose instead of push on the Over 5.
* A note on the odds on this bet – we had to shop around to get +132. Bet365 and Sports Interaction were only paying +110 on the Over 5.5, but Pinnacle usually pays the best odds on totals, and especially alternate lines.
Bet this game at Pinnacle – The best NHL odds online!
Good luck!
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