NHL Series Playoffs Betting Tips: Rangers vs Canadiens, Bruins vs Senators, Blue Jackets vs Penguins
Written by Graeme & Scott on Tuesday, April 11th, 2017
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The NHL 2017 Playoffs are here. The road to the Stanley Cup Finals is a little bit clearer now, as we’ve cut out the riff-raff and are down to just 16 teams.
The Washington Capitals are the favourites to win the Stanley Cup. After some of their performances this season it’s not hard to see why. However it’s very tight at the top with the bookies also liking the Blackhawks, Penguins, Wild and Blue Jackets. Going to be some good games.
If you want to see the best prices for each playoff series, click here.
Here’s how we handle betting tips during the NHL Playoffs: It’s the same as the last few years. We provide betting tips for each series. We say who we think will win, and then we also say in how many games as those odds are usually nice.
We then provide betting tips from Game 2 on onward for every game.
We provide our own opinions, as opposed to collaborating on the tips like we do during the regular season. The reason for that is so we can have tips for every game if possible.
At the end of the playoffs we’ll tally up how each of us did. That’s more to see who did better as the loser has to buy beer and wings for the winner. The unified picks – where we both agreed on a bet – are the official BetNHL.ca stats.
So that’s it. 5 games on Wednesday so we’re going to cover the Rangers vs Canadiens, Bruins vs Senators and Blue Jackets vs Pens series in this article.
We’ll have another article tomorrow covering the Blues vs Wild and Sharks vs Oilers games. Finally we’ll have a third article on Thursday, covering the Predators vs Hawks, Maple Leafs vs Capitals and Flames vs Ducks.
Let’s get to it.
Rangers vs Canadiens Playoff Betting Tips:
Graeme: The Habs have been such an odd team to watch all season long. Remember when they were the most potent team of the league offensively? Remember when the Blue Jackets beat them 10-0? Such a weird season.
Two major goalies in this one. Lundqvist had a rocky season but usually performs better in the playoffs – although he was very poor last year. While Price doesn’t have as good a playoff record there were a few games where he was essentially a one man team.
Montreal handled the Rangers well this season and being a Habs fan, I have blind faith in Carey Price. In saying that the Rangers had a terrific road record this season. They conceded a fair bit of goals but if Lundqvist turns it on they could be very dangerous. I’ve got to go with the Habs to win. I just think they are stronger overall. Rangers have weak depth in defense and need Lundqvist more than Montreal need Price.
Canadiens in 5 which is available at 5.02 odds.
Scott: The Habs has a great season and bounced back strong compared to last year winning the Atlantic division. The Rangers had more wins than the Canadiens did but are in the Metro division behind the Caps, Penguins and Blue Jackets in the standings and claimed the first wildcard spot.
The Canadiens won the 3 games against the Rangers this season. Their off-season pickup of Radulov proved to be a great gamble. And Weber provides a more reliable defenseman than Subban is at this moment.
The Rangers are the better offensive team ranking 4th overall with 3.09 GPG vs the Habs 15th ranked 2.72.
I do see this series being a battle of goaltending and for that reason the Canadiens have the edge. Lundqvist had a down year where Price was solid. Should be a good series between 2 original 6 teams but I have to go with the Canadiens.
Canadiens in 6 which is available at 5.41 odds.
Canada: Bet the series correct score at Sports Interaction. It’s at “NHL Futures” under “Hockey”.
USA: Bet the series correct score at Bovada. Go to “Hockey” on the sidebar, then use the dropdown in the top menu to choose “NHL Playoffs Series Prices”.
Everyone Else: Bet the series correct score at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv or BetOnline.. At B365 it’s under “Hockey” and then right at the very bottom – NHL Futures 2016/2017. Pinnacle has it under “Specials”, “Hockey”, “NHL”.
Bruins vs Senators Playoff Betting Tips:
Graeme: Many, many times throughout the second half of the season I backed the Boston Bruins and said over and over again “if they’re a playoff team they win this one”. They responded with a win the majority of the time. Since the coaching change, they’ve looked more like a playoff team than almost any other team in the playoffs.
They’re going against a team who have whooped them 4 out of 4 games this season. The Senators have home advantage as well. Yet despite that, the Senators are good sized underdogs as well.
I am highly conflicted in this one. On one side, I want to stick with the Bruins after speaking so well about them for the last few months. On the other side I feel like mathematically at the odds, the Senators are worth a play.
I’m going to go with Bruins in 5 which is available at 4.24 odds. They have been bloody solid on the road. In saying that if you bet the Senators at those odds I don’t see it being a bad bet at all.
Scott: The Bruins ended up in the 3rd spot in Atlantic thanks to the Leafs losing in regulation on the final day of the season. The Sens surprised everyone with the success they had this year and earned themselves home ice advantage in the first round.
The Sens have won the last 6 times that they have played the Bruins including 4 times this year.
The Bruins blueline is banged up but Karlsson is returning from injury so will he be up and ready for playoff hockey?
The Bruins are the bigger and more experienced team and since Cassidy took over they are a better team too. All of the youngsters on the Sens got them to where they are now but I think it’s the playoff experience the Bruins have that’s going to carry them to the next round
Bruins in 6 games which is available at 5.27 odds.
Canada: Bet the series correct score at Sports Interaction. It’s at “NHL Futures” under “Hockey”.
USA: Bet the series correct score at Bovada. Go to “Hockey” on the sidebar, then use the dropdown in the top menu to choose “NHL Playoffs Series Prices”.
Everyone Else: Bet the series correct score at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv or BetOnline.. At B365 it’s under “Hockey” and then right at the very bottom – NHL Futures 2016/2017. Pinnacle has it under “Specials”, “Hockey”, “NHL”.
Blue Jackets vs Penguins Playoff Betting Tips:
Graeme: Oooooooh boy what a matchup.
I love everything that the Blue Jackets have did this season. They’ve been truly amazing. However the pedigree of the Penguins is something that we can never forget. Playoff experience like they have is gold.
Of course the Penguins are without Letang and that hurts them.
I think we’re going to see some real high scoring games in this series. The Penguins this season conceded 234 goals even with Letang there for most of the season, but finished with a goal differential of +48.
To me this is a game where home ice is a big factor, and I’m taking Penguins in 7 Games which is available at 5.78 odds. And I’ll be all over the Over 5.5 in the first game.
Scott: This is going to be an awesome series. The season series was won by Pittsburgh 2-1-1. This series has also turned into quite a rivalry. Dubinsky seems to get under Crosby’s skin so that is always fun to watch.
The Jackets had a great year compared to last season and a huge part of that was Bobrovsky and for Jackets to have any shot at winning this round they will need him to be incredible and steal the series.
The Penguins have had to deal with injuries all season and it’s no different now with them missing Letang. But they are stacked up front with Crosby, Malkin and the HBK line and this will carry them to the next round. Plus let’s not forget that this team won the Cup last year and this years roster has very few changes from that team.
Penguins in 6 which is available at 5.11 odds.
Canada: Bet the series correct score at Sports Interaction. It’s at “NHL Futures” under “Hockey”.
USA: Bet the series correct score at Bovada. Go to “Hockey” on the sidebar, then use the dropdown in the top menu to choose “NHL Playoffs Series Prices”.
Everyone Else: Bet the series correct score at Bet365 (Americans: We recommend http://www.bovada.lv or BetOnline.. At B365 it’s under “Hockey” and then right at the very bottom – NHL Futures 2016/2017. Pinnacle has it under “Specials”, “Hockey”, “NHL”.
