Bruins go for the sweep at Montreal Canadiens
Bruins go for the sweep at Montreal Canadiens
It's been like a broken record in this series with Boston winning each of the first three games vs. Montreal, and all of the contests just going over the posted total. Bruins fans and backers hope for a fourth chorus tonight as Marc Savard & Co. go for the series sweep against the Canadiens. Can the battered Habs stave off elimination and force a Game 5 in Boston on Saturday, or is this the end of the road?
Some elite teams are better than others.
It’s been a competitive first round for the most part at the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Going into Tuesday’s action, favorites and underdogs were evenly split against the puckline at 11-11. But not every series has been a gem.
In Montreal, the injury-plagued Canadiens have quickly found themselves on the brink of elimination against their perennial rivals from Boston. And out on the Left Coast, the San Jose Sharks are finding out that buying Cup winners from other teams might not be as valuable as growing your own.
Boston (-185) at Montreal (+165, 5½)
Game 4: Wednesday, Apr 22, 7:00 p.m. (ET (CBC)
As if dropping their first three games to Boston wasn’t enough, the Habs also lost LW Alex Tanguay and D Mathieu Schneider to that old playoff enigma: “upper-body” injuries. Neither man saw action in Game 3; neither did D Francis Bouillon (groin) after giving it a go in Game 2. Also out of commission: C Robert Lang (heel) and D Andrei Markov (knee). Both are skating in practice but remain unfit for combat.
The locals appear to be bracing for a sweep. According to the Montreal Gazette, some downtown shopkeepers are planning to close their doors early on Wednesday and put newspaper in their windows so that none of their goods are on display. This is a city that has seen more than its share of hockey riots, win or lose, and there’s not going to be a lot of bonhomie on the streets if the hated Bruins finish the job on Montreal ice.
Anything’s possible, but it’s difficult to envision any other outcome besides a sweep. The Bruins have beaten Montreal eight times in a row (the last six times as favorites) and are priced at -185 to end the series, up from -121 in Game 3. Each of the first three contests produced six goals; the total is stuck at 5½ goals for Wednesday’s tilt, and there are strong over trends for both clubs heading into this matchup. Getting LW Milan Lucic (17 goals, 25 assists in 72 games) back into the lineup after a one-game suspension gives Boston that much more firepower.
San Jose at Anaheim
Game 4: Thursday, Apr 23, 10:30 p.m. (ET) Versus
The storyline for this all-California affair was that the 2007 Cup winners from Anaheim would be a tough get for the Sharks, who have yet to take home the silverware in their short history. That’s what San Jose’s offseason binge was supposed to correct; defensemen Rob Blake, Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich all have their names engraved on the Cup. But the Ducks went into the Shark Tank and took the first two games anyway, earning 3.98 units against the moneyline.
Things went more according to plan for the Sharks in Game 3. Boyle had a pair of goals and Blake added one more in a crucial 4-3 victory; the two blueliners also combined to set up Patrick Marleau’s beautiful go-ahead marker in the third. This was the first game of the series to go over the posted total, after Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller blanked the Sharks 2-0 in the opener and made 42 saves to take Game 2 by a score of 3-2. Tuesday night’s final was also the fifth time in a row the away team skated away with the win. San Jose was a -160 chalk at the Honda Center.
This still looks like a series that could go either way, which suggests the Ducks will continue to be good value against the betting odds going forward. Taking Anaheim plus 1½ goals on the puckline has been instant cash in each of the first three games. You could also make a case that the Ducks (25-1) were worth a flyer at press time to win another Stanley Cup. But if you were one of the intrepid souls who took the Sharks at 75-1 following Game 2 (compared to 10-1 at the open), you probably feel a whole lot better about your chances of cashing in the big one.
It's been like a broken record in this series with Boston winning each of the first three games vs. Montreal, and all of the contests just going over the posted total. Bruins fans and backers hope for a fourth chorus tonight as Marc Savard & Co. go for the series sweep against the Canadiens. Can the battered Habs stave off elimination and force a Game 5 in Boston on Saturday, or is this the end of the road?
Some elite teams are better than others.
It’s been a competitive first round for the most part at the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Going into Tuesday’s action, favorites and underdogs were evenly split against the puckline at 11-11. But not every series has been a gem.
In Montreal, the injury-plagued Canadiens have quickly found themselves on the brink of elimination against their perennial rivals from Boston. And out on the Left Coast, the San Jose Sharks are finding out that buying Cup winners from other teams might not be as valuable as growing your own.
Boston (-185) at Montreal (+165, 5½)
Game 4: Wednesday, Apr 22, 7:00 p.m. (ET (CBC)
As if dropping their first three games to Boston wasn’t enough, the Habs also lost LW Alex Tanguay and D Mathieu Schneider to that old playoff enigma: “upper-body” injuries. Neither man saw action in Game 3; neither did D Francis Bouillon (groin) after giving it a go in Game 2. Also out of commission: C Robert Lang (heel) and D Andrei Markov (knee). Both are skating in practice but remain unfit for combat.
The locals appear to be bracing for a sweep. According to the Montreal Gazette, some downtown shopkeepers are planning to close their doors early on Wednesday and put newspaper in their windows so that none of their goods are on display. This is a city that has seen more than its share of hockey riots, win or lose, and there’s not going to be a lot of bonhomie on the streets if the hated Bruins finish the job on Montreal ice.
Anything’s possible, but it’s difficult to envision any other outcome besides a sweep. The Bruins have beaten Montreal eight times in a row (the last six times as favorites) and are priced at -185 to end the series, up from -121 in Game 3. Each of the first three contests produced six goals; the total is stuck at 5½ goals for Wednesday’s tilt, and there are strong over trends for both clubs heading into this matchup. Getting LW Milan Lucic (17 goals, 25 assists in 72 games) back into the lineup after a one-game suspension gives Boston that much more firepower.
San Jose at Anaheim
Game 4: Thursday, Apr 23, 10:30 p.m. (ET) Versus
The storyline for this all-California affair was that the 2007 Cup winners from Anaheim would be a tough get for the Sharks, who have yet to take home the silverware in their short history. That’s what San Jose’s offseason binge was supposed to correct; defensemen Rob Blake, Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich all have their names engraved on the Cup. But the Ducks went into the Shark Tank and took the first two games anyway, earning 3.98 units against the moneyline.
Things went more according to plan for the Sharks in Game 3. Boyle had a pair of goals and Blake added one more in a crucial 4-3 victory; the two blueliners also combined to set up Patrick Marleau’s beautiful go-ahead marker in the third. This was the first game of the series to go over the posted total, after Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller blanked the Sharks 2-0 in the opener and made 42 saves to take Game 2 by a score of 3-2. Tuesday night’s final was also the fifth time in a row the away team skated away with the win. San Jose was a -160 chalk at the Honda Center.
This still looks like a series that could go either way, which suggests the Ducks will continue to be good value against the betting odds going forward. Taking Anaheim plus 1½ goals on the puckline has been instant cash in each of the first three games. You could also make a case that the Ducks (25-1) were worth a flyer at press time to win another Stanley Cup. But if you were one of the intrepid souls who took the Sharks at 75-1 following Game 2 (compared to 10-1 at the open), you probably feel a whole lot better about your chances of cashing in the big one.