Last night I went 3-5 on the NHL Playoffs, but won a unit as the Canes swept the Flyers and the Wild got a win at home. Tonight we have two big games, let’s on keep winning!
Game 3: Canadiens vs. Sabres (7:00)
This series shifts to Montreal tonight for Game 3 all knotted up with each team winning a game while the Hurricanes already swept the Flyers and are in the Eastern Conference Finals awaiting their next opponent. As a Sabres fan, I am very concerned with how this series is going to go after how my Sabres played in their first two games at home. I thought Game 1 was actually pretty solid for both teams, with my Sabres winning 4-2 at home. We got outshot 28-16, which wasn’t great, but I thought we played quite well on both ends of the ice all night to get the win. Alex Lyon was fantastic in goal, with some help from the posts. Really good game, and the offense was successful on limited opportunities with some big goals from the depth in our line. Zach Benson was fantastic, drawing a penalty early and getting two fantastic assists to set up the first two goals of the first period. Then even though we only had one shot on goal in the third period, locked down and held off the comeback push from Montreal. Montreal answered back in Game 2 on Friday night, absolutely dominating the Sabres in an absolutely awful game. We looked like complete shit from start to finish, getting embarrassed quickly and often all night on home ice. The crowd was out of it right away after we went down 2-0 in just the first five minutes of the game. Gave away the puck on more turnovers than passes we completed. We barely got anything going in the slightest in the Habs zone. Barely any quality scoring chances. Our offense was completely dead. We took a ton of stupid penalties and the Habs dominated the entire game to tie up this series. Our best players were the worst ones on the ice tonight, especially Tage. It was just horrible. Only bright side of this game was Benson being his little carnival freak self, our little rat. But besides him, nothing. I don’t love our chances in Game 3 as this series shifts to Montreal whatsoever. That arena’s so hard to play in and with how the Sabres looked in Game 2, I feel like the Habs come out and win this one at home to take their first lead in the series and hang onto home ice for at least another game. If I wasn’t a Sabres fan, I’d be all over the Canadiens in this game, but I can’t bet against my own team in the playoffs. We gotta figure out a way to win one of these two games up in Montreal or this series is over. I like the over though tonight, and I’ll take it for a unit. Really the only player prop I like in this game is Nick Suzuki to get a point, but I don’t think it’s worth betting.
Game 4: Ducks vs. Golden Knights (9:30)
This series has been decent through the first three games, with the Golden Knights now leading the series 3-1 and taking home ice back in the series. Game 1 was a lot of fun. These teams battled, with a fantastic night in goal for Carter Hart, as the Ducks outshot Vegas 34-22, but the Golden Knights got the 3-1 win at home. The Knights lead till late, until Mikael Granlund tied it up with 6:03 left in regulation, but just 1:05 later, right after a questionable no-call, Pavel Dorofeyev set up a sick pass to Ivan Barbashev to get Vegas the lead back, capped off by a Mitch Marner empty netter. Not the best game for the Golden Knights and they still found a way to get a really solid win. The Ducks answered back though in Game 2, with a very good game for Lukas Dostal, having a shutout until the final six seconds of the game when Mark Stone scored on the power play, getting Anaheim a 3-1 win at home to even the series. As the series shift to Anaheim on Friday, the Golden Knights absolutely dominated that game, winning 6-2 on the road in a spectacular game for Mitch Marner. The Knights scored early in the first period and never gave up the lead, scoring three goals in the first period, including one shorthanded, and then Mitch Marner on the power play made it 3-0 with five seconds left in the first. Marner kept rolling with a natural hat trick, his first in a playoff game with an assist to go with it. Carter Hart shut out the Ducks until there was just 13.5 minutes left in the game, where it was already out of reach with Vegas up 5-0 going into the third. I like the Knights to win again tonight on the road and take this back to Vegas up 3-1 with the chance to close it out at home in Game 5. I’ll take them for a unit. I’ll also parlay Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner to each get a point for half a unit. I’d slightly lean the over, but not enough to bet it.
Series Bets
1.5u Golden Knights – Series Winner (-190)
Bets
1u Canadiens/Sabres over 5.5 (-130)
1u Golden Knights ML (-105)
.5u parlay: Jack Eichel/Mitch Marner 1+ point each (-160)
Regular Season Record: 935-1041-2 (-106.22 units)
Playoffs Round 1 Record: 68-75 (-7.44 units)
Playoffs Round 2 Record: 20-21 (+5.7 units)
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A Town's Zone 