My losing run on the NHL Conference Finals continued last night since the Canes needed OT to win despite dominating the Habs, losing me 2.02 units. Let’s get our first win of this round on Game 3 tonight as the West shifts to Vegas with the Knights up 2-0.
Game 3: Golden Knights vs. Avalanche (8:00)
I know I thought my Golden Knights would hang in this series and play solid hockey to take this Western Conference Finals to Game 6 or 7 despite everyone expecting this to be an easy series for Colorado, but not a chance I would have expected the Knights to be up 2-0 in this series heading back to Vegas for Game 3 tonight. Vegas played fantastic hockey in Game 1 of this series. Carter Hart was fantastic in goal for the VGK, making 36 saves on the 38 shots he saw. The first period was a bit of a slow start, but Vegas played great in the second, getting out to a 2-0 lead, with AHL call up Dylan Coghlan scoring scoring the first of the game and Mitch Marner on a sick move set up Pavel Dorofeyev to go up 2-0 on the power play. Brett Howden made it 3-0 Vegas just 1:34 into the third period, which turned out to be the game winner. In the third, with a goal from Val Nichushkin, the Avs made it a game again, and with 2:21 left in regulation, on the power play, Gabe Landeskog made it 3-2, but the comeback effort for Colorado fell short with Nic Dowd capping off the game with an empty netter for the Knights to win it 4-2 and take home ice in this series. I thought the Avs really missed Cale Makar, especially quarterbacking the offense from the blue line. In Game 2, even without Makar, I thought the Avs would find a way to win it to tie up the series at home. They led 1-0 going into the third period on a goal by Ross Colton in the first period, but with 10:45 left in regulation, Jack Eichel tied the game on a beautiful shot and then set up the cigarette machine, Ivan Barbashev for the eventual game winner just 2:07 later, with Barbashev scoring his second in a row on the empty net to win it 3-1 for the Knights. That was the Av’s first loss of the year after leading after two periods, now 45-1 this season in that category. The Avalanche are looking to become just the second team in NHL history, along with the 1945 Red Wings to come back from down 0-2 in the conference finals after losing back to back home games to start the series. I know it’s an uphill climb and Cale Makar might be out again tonight, but the Avs are done if they don’t win tonight, and they’re a good enough team that I think even without Cale they find a way to win on the road tonight. I’ll take them for a unit. I’d lean the over tonight, especially with the desperation that Colorado is going to have to play with, but not enough to bet it. I’ll also go back to my parlay on Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Nathan MacKinnon, and Martin Necas to each get a point for half a unit.
Series Bets
2u Carolina Hurricanes to win series in six games or less (-135)
Bets
1u Avalanche ML (-150)
.5u parlay: Eichel/Marner/MacKinnon/Necas 1+ point each (-105)
Regular Season Record: 935-1041-2 (-106.22 units)
Playoffs Round 1 Record: 68-75 (-7.44 units)
Playoffs Round 2 Record: 37-33 (+10.16 units)
Playoffs Round 3 Record: 0-7 (-9.74 units)
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