NHL Daily Gambling Preview – 5/18/22

The second round of the playoffs started like complete shit for me last night, getting reverse swept, going 0-5 to lose 9.03 units. Tonight the other two second round series begin. Let’s bounce back with winners!

Game 1: Hurricanes vs. Rangers (7:00)

Both of these Metro Division teams got out of the first round with Game 7 wins and did it quite differently to set up the Carolina Hurricanes vs. the New York Rangers to go to the Eastern Conference Finals against the winner of the Battle of Florida. These teams battled it out for first place in the Metro Division till the last week of the season, with the Hurricanes finishing first and Rangers finishing second. Now they’ll determine the real winner over the course of a seven game series. I wrote up in my series preview earlier today that I can see the Hurricanes making a run to the Cup Finals, although I think the winner of the Stanley Cup comes out of the West and will add a two unit future on the Canes to win the cup, with decent value at +700. The Rangers were lucky to even get out of the first round against the Penguins, and although they probably win a game or two this series I think the Canes roll through them, especially at home in Carolina. The price is a little bit heavy on the series at -205, but will take the Canes to win it in six games or less for 2.5 units at even money. I think the Canes start off the series with a solid win at home and will take them for 1.5 units in Game 1 tonight. I’d slightly lean the overs in this series, but not enough to bet on it in Game 1 so I’ll stay off the total.

Game 1: Flames vs. Oilers (9:30)

The first round in the Pacific Division shook out exactly how the hockey world wanted and now we get the heated Battle of Alberta in the playoffs for the first time since 1991 between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers. I can’t wait to watch this series. Both were pretty underwhelming to me in their first round series but I think that changes in Round 2. I broke down in my series preview that I think this is gonna be an awesome series that’s going to be so much fun to watch. Calgary’s the better and more well rounded team with much better depth in every part of the game and better coaching from Daryl Suter, who’s been here before and lead the Kings to two Stanley Cups. I didn’t think the Oilers would make it far in the playoffs and continue to think that. I will lay the juice on the Flames with two units on them to win this series. I think this ends up likely going six games with McDavid and Draisaitl taking over to win a game or two and the variance with such a huge rivalry and I’ll take this series to go over 5.5 games for a unit. I expect this series to trend over. In the regular season, these teams scored a ton of goals against each other with three of their four games going over 6.5. Although the Flames series against Dallas trended way under, the Oilers series against the Kings trended over. I think there’s going to be a lot of bad blood in this series which should result in a lot of penalties and power play goals from good units on each team. I think the Flames open this series with a win at home in Game 1 tonight and will take them for 1.5 units. I’ll also take the over 6 for a unit.

Game Bets

1.5u Hurricanes ML (-176)

1.5u Flames ML (-170)

1u Flames/Oilers over 6 (-134)

Open Series Bets

3u Panthers/Lightning over 5.5 games (-167)

2.5u Hurricanes in six games or less (+100)

2u Flames (-195)

1u Flames/Oilers over 5.5 games (-167)

Futures

2u Hurricanes: Stanley Cup Champions (+700)

.5u Blues: Stanley Cup Champions (+2200)