I finally got my first win of the NHL Conference Finals in last night’s Canes win in OT, winning a unit. Let’s win again tonight as the Golden Knights look to pull off the sweep on the Avs tonight!
Game 4: Golden Knights vs. Avalanche (9:00)
I don’t think anyone in the hockey world could have anticipated the way that this series has played out so far, and tonight the Vegas Golden Knights have a chance to sweep the President’s Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche at home tonight in Game 4. 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. Going into Game 3 on Sunday night with Makar back in the lineup for the Avalanche, the Avs were 52-0-0 with a multi-goal lead this season. Colorado got up 3-0 in the first period, with two goals early from Gabe Landeskog and Nazem Kadri, then Jack Drury made it 3-0 on a shorthanded goal to head into the second period in pretty good shape. Just 19 seconds into the second, Mark Stone got Vegas back into the game, scoring on the power play in his return to the lineup. Less than four minutes later, Mitch Marner got his second assist of the game, setting up Wild Bill Karlsson for his first goal of the playoffs, and then with 7:14 left in the second, Keegan Kolesar tied up the game and made it a new game heading into the third. Mark Stone got his second point of the night, 8:21 into the third period, setting up Tomas Hertl for the eventual game winner and Brett Howden capped it off with an empty netter for the Knights to win it 5-3. The Avs outshot Vegas 35-23, but Carter Hart (.914 save percentage) far outplayed Scott Wedgewood (.818 save percentage) to get the win. The other big takeaway from Game 3 is that even though Makar got back in, Nathan MacKinnon got banged up, leaving the game in the second period right before the tying goal, blocking a shot. I think this season is already over for the Avs, with Game 3 being a must win game for Colorado to make this a series, but in the way that they blew that 3-0 early lead and got shut out the rest of the way, it doesn’t seem great. I’d expect an injured MacKinnon to be back in the lineup, but Vegas is winning this series. If it’s not tonight, it will likely be in Game 5 when the series returns to Colorado. I’ll take the Golden Knights tonight for a unit, and I’ll double down on them each game if they lose. I like the over as well, especially with this being an elimination game and I’ll take that for a unit as well. I considered a few player props tonight, mainly on Eichel and Marner, but the prices are a bit too expensive for me to bet it. Go Knights!
Series Bets
2u Carolina Hurricanes to win series in six games or less (-135)
Bets
1u Golden Knights ML (-105)
1u Avalanche/Golden Knights over 6.5 (+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: 1-9 (-10.76 units)
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A Town's Zone 