NHL Playoff Odds: Year of the Shark
So much for the Red Wings appearing in the Stanley Cup Finals a third straight year. Evgeni Nabokov's 33 saves in Game 5 on Saturday helped the Sharks to a 2-1 win, ending Detroit's hopes after a long, injury-filled campaign. San Jose now awaits the winner of the Blackhawks, Canucks series that could be decided in Vancouver on Tuesday when Chicago takes its 3-2 lead into General Motors Place.
It was a good idea at the time.
Coming off the Olympic break, the Detroit Red Wings were 18-1 to win the Stanley Cup. They were also on the verge of missing the playoffs, saddled with injuries and finding it hard to put the puck past the goal line. So I made the bet. The Wings got healthy, stormed into the playoffs, and beat the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round. Daddy was finally going to get that new pair of shoes.
Not this time. The San Jose Sharks closed the book on Detroit’s comeback story, beating the Wings 2-1 on Saturday to advance to the Western Conference final in five games. The series was a scoring fiesta up until that point; San Jose won each of the first three contests by a 4-3 score before getting smoked 7-1 in Game 4.
Evgeni Nabokov proved resilient for the Sharks with 33 saves to improve his playoff save percentage to .907 – lower than Detroit’s Jimmy Howard at .915, but Nabokov was the better goaltender in this series.
The Montreal Canadiens also have the better goalie in their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But in this case, Marc-Andre Fleury (.904 SV%) has done just enough to give the defending Cup champions a 3-2 series lead over Jaroslav Halak (.933 SV%) and the Habs. Game 5 of their series was also a 2-1 final with Fleury making 32 saves for the Penguins. The 'under' is 4-1 in these five games and 8-3 for Montreal in these playoffs.
Montreal will need more of Halak’s heroics in Monday’s Game 6 at the Bell Centre. The Habs are the underdogs, as they’ve been in every single game of the postseason, this time pegged at +155 to avoid elimination against Pittsburgh at minus 175. Halak has kept the Canadiens afloat despite the loss of No. 1 defenseman Andrei Markov and No. 2 defenseman Jaroslav Spacek. The Canadian Press reports that Spacek will play Monday night after missing over two weeks with flu-like symptoms stemming from what appears to be an inner ear infection. Hal Gill also says he’ll play Game 6 despite getting stepped on by Chris Kunitz in Game 5.
The Vancouver Canucks got some of that high-end playoff goaltending Sunday night from their star goalie and captain, Roberto Luongo. He made 29 saves in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in front of a very quiet crowd at the United Center. Luongo went into this contest with an .892 save percentage, easily the worst of the eight starters remaining in the NHL playoffs. The 'over' is 7-2-2 in Vancouver’s 11 postseason games.
Luongo’s numbers look awful, and he’s let in a softie or two for the Canucks, but it’s hard to stop your opponents when they’re constantly on the man advantage. The Blackhawks converted six of their 14 power-play opportunities in their two victories at Vancouver’s GM Place. The Canucks were 2-for-8. Vancouver went into Game 5 outscoring Chicago 10-9 at even strength; make that 13-10 after Sunday’s win. Game 6 is Tuesday in Vancouver.
Last, and perhaps least, is the conference semifinal between the Boston Bruins (No. 6 in the East) and the Philadelphia Flyers (No. 7 in the East). Both teams rode hot goaltending into the second round, but scoring hasn’t been a problem for either team of late. Tuukka Rask (.920 SV%) gave up five goals on Friday as the Flyers prevailed 5-4 in overtime to avoid the sweep. The 'over' was an easy winner to improve to 2-0-2 in this series.
Brian Boucher (.913 SV%) has yet to play a good game against the Bruins. If Philadelphia is going to survive Game 5 Monday night in Boston, it might take another ton of goals – which makes Simon Gagne’s return from a broken toe all the more important. Gagne scored the overtime winner on Friday after Mark Recchi had tied the game with 31.5 seconds remaining in the third period. The early betting odds for Game 5 have Boston favored at minus 140 with the total still at five goals.
So much for the Red Wings appearing in the Stanley Cup Finals a third straight year. Evgeni Nabokov's 33 saves in Game 5 on Saturday helped the Sharks to a 2-1 win, ending Detroit's hopes after a long, injury-filled campaign. San Jose now awaits the winner of the Blackhawks, Canucks series that could be decided in Vancouver on Tuesday when Chicago takes its 3-2 lead into General Motors Place.
It was a good idea at the time.
Coming off the Olympic break, the Detroit Red Wings were 18-1 to win the Stanley Cup. They were also on the verge of missing the playoffs, saddled with injuries and finding it hard to put the puck past the goal line. So I made the bet. The Wings got healthy, stormed into the playoffs, and beat the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round. Daddy was finally going to get that new pair of shoes.
Not this time. The San Jose Sharks closed the book on Detroit’s comeback story, beating the Wings 2-1 on Saturday to advance to the Western Conference final in five games. The series was a scoring fiesta up until that point; San Jose won each of the first three contests by a 4-3 score before getting smoked 7-1 in Game 4.
Evgeni Nabokov proved resilient for the Sharks with 33 saves to improve his playoff save percentage to .907 – lower than Detroit’s Jimmy Howard at .915, but Nabokov was the better goaltender in this series.
The Montreal Canadiens also have the better goalie in their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But in this case, Marc-Andre Fleury (.904 SV%) has done just enough to give the defending Cup champions a 3-2 series lead over Jaroslav Halak (.933 SV%) and the Habs. Game 5 of their series was also a 2-1 final with Fleury making 32 saves for the Penguins. The 'under' is 4-1 in these five games and 8-3 for Montreal in these playoffs.
Montreal will need more of Halak’s heroics in Monday’s Game 6 at the Bell Centre. The Habs are the underdogs, as they’ve been in every single game of the postseason, this time pegged at +155 to avoid elimination against Pittsburgh at minus 175. Halak has kept the Canadiens afloat despite the loss of No. 1 defenseman Andrei Markov and No. 2 defenseman Jaroslav Spacek. The Canadian Press reports that Spacek will play Monday night after missing over two weeks with flu-like symptoms stemming from what appears to be an inner ear infection. Hal Gill also says he’ll play Game 6 despite getting stepped on by Chris Kunitz in Game 5.
The Vancouver Canucks got some of that high-end playoff goaltending Sunday night from their star goalie and captain, Roberto Luongo. He made 29 saves in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in front of a very quiet crowd at the United Center. Luongo went into this contest with an .892 save percentage, easily the worst of the eight starters remaining in the NHL playoffs. The 'over' is 7-2-2 in Vancouver’s 11 postseason games.
Luongo’s numbers look awful, and he’s let in a softie or two for the Canucks, but it’s hard to stop your opponents when they’re constantly on the man advantage. The Blackhawks converted six of their 14 power-play opportunities in their two victories at Vancouver’s GM Place. The Canucks were 2-for-8. Vancouver went into Game 5 outscoring Chicago 10-9 at even strength; make that 13-10 after Sunday’s win. Game 6 is Tuesday in Vancouver.
Last, and perhaps least, is the conference semifinal between the Boston Bruins (No. 6 in the East) and the Philadelphia Flyers (No. 7 in the East). Both teams rode hot goaltending into the second round, but scoring hasn’t been a problem for either team of late. Tuukka Rask (.920 SV%) gave up five goals on Friday as the Flyers prevailed 5-4 in overtime to avoid the sweep. The 'over' was an easy winner to improve to 2-0-2 in this series.
Brian Boucher (.913 SV%) has yet to play a good game against the Bruins. If Philadelphia is going to survive Game 5 Monday night in Boston, it might take another ton of goals – which makes Simon Gagne’s return from a broken toe all the more important. Gagne scored the overtime winner on Friday after Mark Recchi had tied the game with 31.5 seconds remaining in the third period. The early betting odds for Game 5 have Boston favored at minus 140 with the total still at five goals.
