The NHL Playoffs are underway and the chaos has already started. I’ll breakdown a few of my plays for tonight’s NHL slate. Lets get into it…
Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Rangers
- Series: Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0
- Game Odds: PIT +140, NYR -160, O/U: 6.0 (-115/-105)
- Preview/ Pick:
Game 1 between the Penguins and Rangers was the most exciting game in the playoffs so far. Evgeni Malkin scored in triple overtime to give the Penguins the early lead in the series. However, the win came at a cost as Casey DeSmith exited the game in over time forcing Louis Domingue to come in for relief. Domingue was great stopping all 17 shots he faced. The Penguins are now down to their third string goalie who will face off against the likely Vezina Trophy winner, Igor Shesterkin. He faced 83 shots in Game 1 and finished with a +3.58 GSAx. If the Rangers want to have a shot in this series they’ll need to win tonight at MSG, which I believe they will. Pittsburgh has the playoff experience while the Rangers are a relatively young team without much post season experience. The Rangers should come out firing behind another strong performance from Igor Shesterkin while I expect Louis Domingue to struggle a bit in his first career playoff start.
PICK: NY Rangers in Regulation (+105) – 1 Unit
Dallas Stars @ Calgary Flames
- Series: Calgary Flames 1-0
- Game Odds: CGY -250, DAL +190, O/U: 5.5 (-110/-110)
- Preview/ Pick:
The Flames defeated the Stars in Game 1 by a score of 1-0. Jacob Markstrom was a major part of that victory stopping all 16 shots he faced. In that game their wasn’t a lot of offense as Dallas finished the game with 0.9 xGF while Calgary was only slightly better with 1.21 xGF. The Flames did control most of the play with Jake Oettinger continuing to prove he’s a viable number 1 option. In Game 1, I think we learned more about Calgary than Dallas. The Stars a mediocre team and if you were to say which team benefited from a low scoring game, I would have said Dallas. However, Calgary was able to not only shut down Dallas’ offense but limit them to just 16 shots. I think the Flames, settle down tonight and really get their offense going.
PICK: CAL Flames in Regulation (-130) – 1 Unit
PICK: CAL Flames -1.5 (+110) – 1 Unit
Play Prop of the Night
Jonathan Huberdeau over 2.5 SOG (-150)
Huberdeau faced off against the Capitals three times in the regular season and has gone over 2.5 SOG in every one of those games. In Game 1, he recorded 5 Shots on Goal. If the Panthers want to get back on track and even up the series they’ll need Huberdeau to provide that offensive spark.
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting.
