NHL Hockey Betting: Stanley Cup Playoffs for April 24, 2016
Three games for Sunday with three teams facing elimination. The Washington Capitals will try again to put away the pesky Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Islanders will try to dispatch the Florida Panthers and the Dallas Stars will try to eliminate the resurgent Minnesota Wild:
WASHINGTON CAPITALS AT PHILADELPHIA FLYERS:
The Washington Capitals have forgotten how to score goals. After having no trouble at all with the Philadelphia Flyers in the first three games they’ve run into a red hot goalie in Michael Neuvirth in Games Four and Five. Now the Flyers can tie the series 3-3 on home ice and set up a decisive Game 7 in Washington. It’s easy to say that Philadelphia has turned things around but it’s all been Neuvirth. Washington outshot Philadelphia 44-11 in Game Three but the Flyers managed a goal and then added an empty net marker late.
The media is talking ‘choke’ but Caps’ head coach Barry Trotz remains unconcerned. The defense is playing well and Trotz is of the opinion that things will ‘even out’: “It evens out. It always does. I make fun of the hockey gods, but when you look back, it sort of always evens out. If you play hard and you play well, you’re going to get rewarded. Just play the right way, and right now I like the way we’re playing. We’re playing the right way. We’ve just got to find the back of the net, and we will.” The Capitals had the #6 scoring offense during the regular season (2.89 goals per game). The Flyers had the #21 scoring offense during the regular season.
The Capitals have been very resilient off of a bad performance–after scoring 1 goal or less in their previous game they’re 10-3 +4.1 units this year. After a loss by two or more in their previous game they’re 10-2 +6.7 units. In all revenge spots they were 16-9 +3.6 units this year. The Flyers, conversely, haven’t fared well off of a big win. After a win by two or more goals this year the Flyers are 8-12 -4.6 units. Michal Neuvirth gets the start again for Philly but it’s hard to imagine him shutting down the Caps for the third straight game.
BET WASHINGTON CAPITALS -150 OVER PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT NEW YORK ISLANDERS:
Haven’t been able to figure out this series. My power ratings have shown that Florida is the better team throughout but the Islanders have gone up 3-2 and can eliminate the Panthers with a win here. Florida’s biggest issue in the series is their failure to take advantage of their home ice–they’ve lost two of the three games in Miami though both were 1 goal games. This is a tough series to handicap due to the parity between the teams. Panthers have won 8 of the last 14 games and 4 of 7 at home. Both teams have shown they can win on ‘enemy ice’. One of the more interesting aspects of the Panthers’ excellent regular season has been their tenacity–they’re 22-13 revenging all losses and 16-3 +15 units avenging a home loss. In a pick’em situation we’ll back Florida and bet that this one is going seven.
BET FLORIDA PANTHERS -105 OVER NEW YORK ISLANDERS
DALLAS STARS AT MINNESOTA WILD:
The Dallas Stars took their foot off of the Minnesota Wild’s throat in Game Three of this series and are living to regret it. The porous Dallas defense was the issue in Game Five as the previously offensively challenged Minnesota Wild ripped the Stars for five goals including the overtime winner. After 1 goal in the first two games of the series the Wild have scored 12 in their last 3 games. Dallas doesn’t have any problem winning in Minnesota and they know that they don’t want to roll the dice in a Game Seven at home. Minnesota hasn’t been especially good at home this year with a record of 22-21 -9.4 units. We’ll back the Stars here.
BET DALLAS STARS -125 OVER MINNESOTA WILD