The Stanley Cup Finals are already underway with the LA Kings stealing game 1 at home with a 3-2 overtime win. They came back from 2-0 and the LA Kings are just the team that won’t go away while the New York Rangers are the team that people don’t expect to win. Putting that all aside this series could be anything and everything. The Rangers have looked great making it to the finals and the Kings despite having to endure 3 consecutive game 7s, they are a team that always plays hard and can win any game in anyway.
The Kings are the heavy favorites to win it all considering their team is not just stacked but has experience of winning it all 2 years ago. They also beat these teams to get to the finals: San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks. Those 3 teams had 51 wins, 54 wins and 46 wins respectively in the regular season. That is what makes them so intimidating and their team is stacked with quality scorers.
The Rangers do have some players with Stanley Cup experience including Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards. After that their team features great players but they seem more unknown compared to the King’s players. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist does have a gold medal to his resume and it is his first time getting to the finals. Rick Nash should be one of their star players but seems just average. It is the rest of the lineup that is extremely fast and plays hard. The head coach Alain Vigneault is proving to be that good of a coach. If people do consider this Rangers team to be good, then the coaching has turned them into greatness. He will certainly try to get the most out of his players and expect some urgency from his players in the remainder of the series.
Stanley Cup odds
It is going to be tough getting decent odds on the Stanley Cup and most people are going to bet with their heart rather than their head. Although the Kings can rip open any game with their offense, this series should be tighter than what the odds suggest. The money line on some of the games gives the Rangers a handicap of +1.5 and the odds are just not good enough to justify betting for either team. The Rangers are not the type of team like Chicago that can rip up goals galore so this series could feature under 5 goals often and with odds of around 1/1 or rather -120, this might be a decent payout.
Other interesting odds are Team scoring first wins game, which is usually around -250. Seems expensive but just because the King’s came back in game 1, doesn’t mean that the series will feature this many upsets. Whoever wins the cup, probably will be scoring first in most of the games and their losses will probably result in them not starting the game with the first lead.
At the moment the Kings are -300 to win the series. That might not be the best odds but considering they won the first game and just looking at how stacked their team is, this is still worth the bet.
If you want better odds you might be able to find this at a betting exchange where instead of betting against the house, another player can write the odds and you might be able to take advantage of some generous Rangers fans.
If you search for any online sportsbook you should be able to find competitive odds, here is a list of hockey specific bonuses.
Get the stats and scores on the NHL GameCenter App
The NHL GameCenter App of course gives you the score as it happens but if you are a real hockey fan you’ll be watching the game instead. What is cool is you can check out all the players and find out their stats and when you start looking at the LA Kings and see how many goals they scored, you’ll realize they are tough mofos to play against. At this point anyone from Drew Doughty to Justin Williams to Anze Kopitar could win the Conn Smythe trophy.
For Android Users:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nhl.gc1112.free
For iPhone Users:
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nhl-gamecenter/id465092669?mt=8
So enjoy the rest of the playoffs, Martin St. Louis is a great player and he won’t like hearing about it, but the LA Kings are going to win this series. It was a great run they had but the LA Kings are too stacked and even if Chris Kreider goes skates first into Jonathan Quick, their backup goalie Martin Jones played amazing this year and could win it himself too. Would be great to see this series go to game 7 but picking Kings in 6. If you are looking for a great sportsbook to bet on hockey then try Pinnacle Sports. They offer some of the best odds compared to any sportsbook and you’ll find plenty to bet on in the NHL playoffs.
