NHL Hockey Betting: Stanley Cup Playoffs for April 20, 2016
Four games on Wednesday with one possible elimination:
WASHINGTON CAPITALS AT PHILADELPHIA FLYERS:
The Philadelphia Flyers simply don’t have an answer for the Washington Capitals. That’s OK–neither did the rest of the league this year. The story after Game One was that the Caps won but didn’t ‘look like a championship team’. The story after Game Two focused on the mother of all ‘soft goals’ allowed by Steve Mason and didn’t focus on the Caps 4-1 victory. After winning Game Three we can go ahead and say it–the Capitals are looking like a championship team. The Flyers just can’t buy a break–last night it was their own fans who kept throwing wristbands on the ice and caused the home team to be assessed with a ‘bench minor’ penalty.
Washington will be without defenseman Brooks Orpik here–he’ll miss Game Four with an ‘upper body injury‘. They’ll use Taylor Chorny and Mike Weber in his place. A bigger concern is a minor knee tweak suffered by goaltender Braden Holtby but so far no suggestion that he’ll miss the game. Philipp Grubauer is one of the more capable backups in the NHL but since the Caps haven’t recalled a goalie from the AHL ‘just in case’ it would seem that Holtby’s injury isn’t significant. The Caps are going for their first sweep in franchise history and it’s really hard to see what Philadelphia could throw at them to keep it from happening. Even the fans just want to be put out of their misery. The Capitals have outscored the Flyers 12-2 in three games and haven’t allowed a power play goal. They’ll be happy to oblige.
BET WASHINGTON CAPITALS -170 OVER PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT NEW YORK ISLANDERS:
Three games in and I still can’t make heads or tails of this series. New York leads 2-1 but their two one goal victories–Game Three coming in overtime–don’t exactly suggest ‘dominance’. This game is a coin flip, the betting line reflects this and there’s no value on either side.
PASS
DALLAS STARS AT MINNESOTA WILD:
Dallas let their foot off the gas or did their suspect defense finally get exposed? The local media is of the Yoga Berra opinion that ‘90% of the game is half mental‘ and saying that it’s simply focus that stands between the Stars and the next round. The old cliche is that Sun Belt cities don’t have ‘real hockey fans’ but the mood in Dallas isn’t one of panic with columns insisting that head coach Lindy Ruff don’t do anything rash like bench goalie Kari Lehtonen in favor of Darcy Kuemper. They’re even finding positives in the loss. Apparently Minnesota came alive and bounced back from a 2-0 hole in Game Three after a fire and brimstone speech from interim head coach John Torchetti.
Credit Minnesota for getting off the mat but the reality is still there–their two best offensive players are out indefinitely. Dallas is a nice value here and should take this back to Texas up 3 games to 1.
BET DALLAS STARS -115 OVER MINNESOTA WILD
LOS ANGELES KINGS AT SAN JOSE SHARKS:
By now you should know the deal with this series. The Sharks are fearsome on the road but have struggled at home all season. San Jose fans are showing a bit of hysterics after the Game Three OT loss and the media is blaming it on the fourth line. Adding insult to injury, a viral video is making the rounds of a confused Sharks fan mistakenly celebrating the Kings’ OT goal. As much as the San Jose party line is that ‘things are getting better at home’ we’re still going to play the road team until we see a reason to do otherwise.
BET LOS ANGELES KINGS +110 OVER SAN JOSE SHARKS