Stanley Cup Playoff Game Odds: Carolina vs Boston Puck Line and Best Tuesday Picks

The NHL playoffs don’t last as long as the MLB season, making it hard to produce a “Daily Double” style running chronology of picks and wagers on Stanley Cup action.

However, readers can check WagerBop for semi-daily NHL playoff picks throughout the spring tournament, in addition to our usual IIHF Men’s Worlds predictions later this week.

Games played on the nights of publish-days won’t allow for much time between discovery of our handicap and bettors having to choose whether to follow or contradict our picks. But that works out just fine for this Monday and Tuesday, since the outcome of Monday’s late contest in Tennessee may be viewed as a foregone conclusion by a majority of armchair analysts.

NHL Playoff Odds and Best Picks This Week

Mon. May 9th: Colorado Avalanche at Nashville Predators (Game 4, Colorado Leads 3-0)

Stanley Cup “Round of 16” brackets are full of upset bids and deadlocked series W/L tallies at the present time. But the mighty Colorado Avalanche are producing an exception to the trend, threatening to get a jump on rest and preparation for the next NHL playoff round by sweeping the Nashville Predators in 4 straight face-offs. Nashville is saddled with subpar goaltending and checking at the worst possible time, giving up 7 goals to the Avs in Saturday night’s defeat. Colorado is a (-255) favorite to complete the sweep on Monday night.

Goal total odds-makers have made a clear mistake in giving away (+100) odds on Under (6.5) goals in Game 4. While it’s easy to become enamored with Gabriel Landeskog and the Colorado attack, teams losing 0-3 in an early-round series often fall prey to “stick-squeezing,” or anxiously blasting quality chances wide of the net. It wouldn’t be strange for Colorado to draw-up a cautious game plan for Monday night’s battle, hoping to ease out of town with a quiet 3-0 victory that includes no fights, injuries, or suspensions. Unless bettors feel that the Colorado Avalanche will score 14 goals in 2 playoff games, the low-side is a solid wager.

WagerBop’s Pick: Under (6.5)

Tues. May 10th: Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes (Game 5, Series Tied 2-2)

Just when fans of the Carolina Hurricanes were getting revved-up for another “Sweep, Caroline” roar into the conference semifinals, the Boston Bruins are mounting what could be a definitive comeback series-win to bolster the Spokes’ heretofore-weak odds on a Stanley Cup run in 2022. Boston leaked 10 goals-against to Carolina in 2 consecutive losses to begin the series, but took command of the neutral zone and the scoreboard in a pair of high-scoring victories.

FanDuel is tempting NHL bettors with fat underdog moneyline odds on Boston to prevail for a 3rd straight time. But the Carolina Hurricanes’ (-1.5) Puck Line is too good to pass up at a (+188) payoff line. Clearly, the Bruins can’t try to win with a Neutral-Zone Trap or another defensive strategy, and are likely to lose by 2+ goals if unsuccessful in the 1st period.

WagerBop’s Pick: Carolina Puck Line (-1.5)

Tues. May 10: St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild (Game 5, Series Tied 2-2)

Gamblers looking to cheer with (or against) the wildest NHL crowd of Tuesday night should look to Toronto, where the Maple Leafs have a chance to deliver a hard blow to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s quest to build a dynasty with consecutive titles. But another “Wild” match-up offers an opportunity at the betting board, on which the St. Louis Blues are still underestimated after coasting through the regular-season in close to ideal fashion for a veteran club.

Current spreads on St. Louis are not generous at (+1.5) goals and (-225) betting odds, but the Blue Note’s (+112) moneyline at FanDuel could be a steal considering the developing series narrative. Game 4 featured a typical “sneaky” Blues attack that solved Marc-André Fleury, considered among the best goaltenders of modern times, while the oft-debated Jordan Binnington shined for the Blues between the pipes. Fleury can still catch-up to a slap shot in mid-flight, but he may not hold-off Craig Berube’s team if it peaks in late spring.

WagerBop’s Pick: St. Louis

Tues. May 10: Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings (Game 5, Series Tied 2-2)

Edmonton appeared to skate on a treadmill once again as February’s grim landscape took hold in the Western Conference. The Canadian club was caught in a difficult race for the conference’s remaining playoff spots, and teams like the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators were racking-up so many points that even a Wild-Card berth could ultimately have eluded the Oilers. North America’s modest cult of IIHF fans were excited about the prospect of Edmonton superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl suiting-up for Team Canada and Team Germany respectively in the upcoming World Championship, presumably having been eliminated from Stanley Cup contention before the NHL playoffs even started.

But then, McDavid’s offense caught spring-time fire in a fashion more associated with the 1987 Edmonton Oilers than the modern-day franchise. Edmonton scored 5+ goals in games against St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas, and Pittsburgh, roaring to a runner-up Pacific Division finish and helping to eliminate the Golden Knights from another consecutive bid in the Stanley Cup playoffs. McDavid and Draisaitl’s combined 233 regular-season points begins to echo the amazing feats of Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, with the parallel only falling short because of the positioning of 2022’s prolific pair more than any disparate skill-level.

Betting odds on Tuesday’s battle in Edmonton demonstrate that NHL odds-makers don’t believe in the law of averages. The Oilers are cast as firm (-215) moneyline and (-1.5) (+120) Puck Line favorites for Game 5, even though the series appears well-overdue for a close call. L.A. blanked the Oilers 4-0 in Game 4 after prevailing 4-3 in Game 1, the match-up’s only close contest so far, then losing 2 in a row by a combined 12 rallies.

WagerBop’s Pick: Moneyline Draw (OT result) (+350)