NHL Hockey Betting: Stanley Cup Playoffs for April 15, 2016
Four NHL Stanley Cup playoff games for Friday night with three series going to Game Two. It’ll also be Game One in the Anaheim/Nashville series:
NASHVILLE PREDATORS AT ANAHEIM DUCKS:
The top game on the board is actually the latest start time. Nashville has never reached the Conference Finals–the only team in the sixteen team Stanley Cup playoff field not to do so. The Predators have a lot of talent but they’ve been a maddeningly enigmatic team this year. When the ‘good Preds’ show up they can beat anyone in the league. When the ‘bad Preds’ show up they can look like an AHL team. This enigmatic play is likely why all ten ESPN analysts as well as 18 of the 21 media types polled on NHL.com picked the Ducks to win the series.
Nashville is healthy going into the postseason. Hard to say what is going on with Anaheim’s injury situation–they’ve got a lot of names on their injury report but most are listed as ‘probable’ for Friday. Another question mark is the Anaheim goaltender. The Ducks might actually go with a ‘rotation’ during the playoffs which is something that old school hockey types hate. Frederik Andersen has played well down the stretch after John Gibson took over the top spot earlier in the season. Anaheim has a big edge on special teams–the Ducks were the first team to finish with the #1 penalty kill and the #1 power play since the Dennis Potvin era New York Islanders. The Ducks also had the NHL’s best team defense.
The problem for Nashville in this series is that when they’re at their best they’re playing the kind of hockey that Anaheim plays–only the Ducks do it better.
BET ANAHEIM DUCKS -160 OVER NASHVILLE PREDATORS
DETROIT RED WINGS AT TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING:
This Detroit team just isn’t very good but the local fanbase can’t accept that fact. Today, they were treated to a story in the local media blaming the Wings’ woes on Gustav Nyquist because he’s not scoring enough. It would help the team to pick up the pace on offense but Nyquist alone most definitely isn’t the problem. Everything about this Detroit team screams ‘mediocrity’. The Red Wings finished the regular season 17th in team goals against average, 23rd in goals scored per game, 13th on the power play and 14th on the penalty kill. Obviously, the problems go a lot deeper than Gustav Nyquist not scoring goals. Henrik Zetterberg was slashed in the hand in Game One but as of now no indication that it’s serious.
Tampa Bay’s biggest problem is their power play–#28 in the league which is curious given the deep roster of individual offensive talent they have. Otherwise they’re a very solid team–#5 in team goals against average and #7 on the penalty kill. They also were #12 in goals scored per game. Tampa Bay’s talented youngsters are a year better and more mature than they were last season and lest we forget they made the Stanley Cup Finals. Tampa won 3 of 5 from Detroit this season–Wings won the first two but Tampa won the next 3. They’ve won 14 of the last 21 meetings head to head including 9 of the last 11 in the ‘Cigar City’.
BET TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING -160 OVER DETROIT RED WINGS
NEW YORK ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS:
Game off the board–teams played on Thursday night. Worth noting that 8 of the last 9 head to head including four straight in Florida have gone ‘Over’ the total.
NO LINE
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS AT ST. LOUIS BLUES:
The Chicago Blackhawks completely outplayed the St. Louis Blues in Game One on both ends of the ice. And all they have to show for it is a loss. David Backes scored a lucky goal in overtime and the Hawks were stoned by goaltender Brian Elliott who has been playing out of his mind over the past couple of months. Elliott stopped 35 Chicago shots while the Hawks’ defenders limited the Blues to 18 shots on net. The only problem is one of those shots went in and Chicago is down 1-0.
St. Louis finished two points out of first place in the Western Conference but if they keep playing like this it’ll be another quick playoff exit. That was the primary issue against the Minnesota Wild last season–the Blues couldn’t get chances. Sure, it’s only one game but the fact that they mustered 12 shots fewer than their regular season average and allowed 6 more shots on net is a concern. Elliott has been a beast for the past six weeks but no team has ever won a Stanley Cup using the ‘let the opponent bombard our goalie and hope we can sneak in a goal’ strategy. Buffalo tried it back during the Dominik Hasek era–‘The Dominator’ was good enough to make his end of the bargain work and the Sabres had players like Michael Peka that could do damage coming back the other way. They also won a grand total of zero Stanley Cups.
This game could be a playoff deciding contest for St. Louis–sure, they won Game One but they can’t get away playing like they did. Even if they manage to advance past Chicago they’ll get exposed sooner rather than later. The problem is that the Hawks are smart enough–and experienced enough at this whole Stanley Cup thing–that they can smell blood in the water. Don’t think that the outcome of Game One is a negative for Chicago. They’d have liked to have won it, but they understand that if they keep doing the same things they’ll get some good results. Brian Elliott can’t steal this series for St. Louis.
BET CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS +115 OVER ST. LOUIS BLUES