NHL Hockey Betting: Stanley Cup Playoffs for May 2, 2016
The NHL gods have bequeathed upon us one game for Monday but they’re serving up three for Tuesday! Same deal for Wednesday and Thursday. I guess it’s for television purposes. For betting purposes, I’d rather there be two games per night. The only game for Monday is round three…er….Game Three between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS AT PITTSBURGH PENGUINS:
Game Three as the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals moves to the Consul Energy Center. A pair of one goal games in Washington later and the series is tied at 1-1. One of the most glaring things about the first two games is that the Capitals–who are supposed to have the superior defense–need to do a *lot* better job limiting the Penguins’ shots. As the commentators pointed out on ‘Hockey Night In Canada’ on Saturday night the shot total doesn’t *seem* that lopsided because many of the Penguins’ shots were from outside or in traffic–in other words, not great scoring chances. And thanks to the considerable skills of Capitals’ goaltender Braden Holtby you have to do better than a wrist shot from just inside the blueline to beat him. But that doesn’t negate the fact that 80 shots on goal against in two games is just too many. The old hockey cliche is that if you put pucks on net good things happen. At least for the offense–the flip side is also true: if your opponent keeps putting pucks on your net then bad things are going to happen.
In any case, neither team looked dominant over the other in the first two games. The Penguins were supposed to have trouble with the more physical Capitals but it sure hasn’t been to the degree expected. On Sunday, the league sent a message that they’re not going to tolerate chippy play in this series when they suspended Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik for three games in response to his late hit to the head on Olli Maatta of the Penguins. True, Maatta is one of the softer defensemen in the NHL but that doesn’t negate that it was a late hit deliberately targeted to the head. Orpik is a very important part of the Capitals’ defense and he’ll now miss Games 3, 4 and 5. At the time, a dazed looking Maatta was helped off the ice by teammates and trainers and didn’t return. Orpik was given a minor penalty for interference. Hindsight being 20/20, Orpik probably deserved a double minor or even a major–maybe even a match penalty–but it was one of those hits that didn’t look as bad as it was until you saw it on instant replay. The team says that they’ll have a status update on Maatta sometime Monday but the early indication is that he’ll be out for Game Three.
One crucial thing that Pittsburgh needs to have happen is for Sidney Crosby to get more production out of their big stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Malkin picked up an assist and had two shots on goal in Saturday’s game but Crosby led the forwards in ice time and had only three shots to show for it. Maybe things will open up for Sid at home where the Capitals won’t get the last line change. Kris Letang played the most minutes–not surprising–but will have to shoulder even more of the defensive load with Maatta likely out. Letang is one of the best in the league at starting the rush and the change in venue might help him as well.
Still no word on a possible return for Penguins’ starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury remains sidelined after suffering his second concussion of the year late in the regular season. He’s been practicing with the team and was one of a handful of participants in an optional skate on Sunday but as of yet no timetable for his return.
The good news for the Penguins is that 21 year old rookie Matt Murray has made it something of a non-issue. Murray has been very good in his stints as a starter this year–as in 9-2-1 during the regular season and 4-1-0 in the playoffs. He was a big part of Pittsburgh’s win in Game Two–23 saves on 24 shots and many were tough. Murray sure doesn’t seem to be wearing down under the pressure and his teammates confidence in him continues to grow. His emergence was a gift from the universe–the team looked to be sunk after Fleury’s second concussion but instead they haven’t missed a beat.
As we’ve noted throughout this series, these teams are very evenly matched and this has all of the earmarks of a seven game series. The Penguins have won 9 of the last 15 head to head but the teams have split the last six in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh won 3 of 5 meetings during the regular season. So we’re back to where we started–a matchup of the best regular season team in the NHL against the hottest team in the league. And as we’ve done before, we’ll take the price.
BET WASHINGTON CAPITALS +120 OVER PITTSBURGH PENGUINS