Three of the four second-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs are knotted up 2-2 after the Bruins and Avalanche rode their goalies to victories last night.
Boston got a huge performance from Tuukka Rask to down the Blue Jackets 4-1 (cashing our Columbus Team Total Under 2.5 +125 ticket in the process), while Philipp Grubauer was even better for the Avs, turning aside all 32 shots he faced in a 3-0 shutout of the Sharks.
Tonight, the Hurricanes can become the first team this spring to advance to the conference finals, followed by a pivotal Game 5 between the Stars and Blues. We’re in action on the early affair and may add another play tonight if we see value in the Dallas/St. Louis clash. (If we do, we’ll note it on Twitter and add it to the website, so be sure to check back later.)
Good luck and enjoy the games!
Odds below are at the time we made the pick.
If you’re serious about making money betting sports, you need to be disciplined enough to pick your spots wisely. But if you’re too selective, you can also miss out on some great opportunities. So although it’s been a pretty successful spring for our Stanley Cup playoff betting picks, we regret not taking advantage of the chance to fade the Penguins and Lightning in Round 1 when they were down 3-0 in their series. Given another chance here in Round 2, we’re not going to make that mistake again.
The Islanders deserve a ton of credit for a tremendous season that nobody saw coming. No John Tavares was no problem for the Isles, who went from the worst defensive team in the NHL to the best in their first year under Barry Trotz and nearly won the Metropolitan Division. This team has defied the odds all year and will probably bring all it can to the rink again tonight. But “working harder”, as Trotz put it yesterday, isn’t going to resolve the Isles’ issues in this series. When a team scores just three goals in the first three games of a series and is facing elimination, the natural tendency for their players is to try to be the hero and pull everyone out of the funk. If individualism takes over tonight, it’ll fly in the face of what has gotten the Islanders this far in the first place.
We should have backed the Hurricanes in Game 3 but passed out of concern for what Curtis McElhinney might bring to the table in net for Carolina in just his second start since March 31. That was a mistake, as McElhinney stopped 28 of 30 shots on the heels of a strong relief effort in Game 2. But even if McElhinney does let in a few tonight, the Hurricanes are playing with so much confidence right now that we expect they’ll find a way to pull out a victory regardless. That’s the belief level of a team that is 31-10-4 in its last 45 games overall and has won 10 of its last 12 at home (the two losses coming against the Capitals and Lightning). Injuries haven’t been enough to derail this torrid run by this Bunch of Jerks, and we don’t see a potential letdown of a 3-0 series lead slowing them down either.
Bet this game at 5Dimes – Reduced juice odds on sides and totals!
Good luck!
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