Broke even last night on the NHL, going 1-1 as the Golden Knights swept the Avs to head to the Stanley Cup Finals! Tonight in the East we have Game 4 with the Canes up 2-1 in Montreal, let’s win!
Game 4: Canadiens vs. Hurricanes (8:00)
This series has been better than I expected it to be, with Montreal getting the road win in Game 1, then the Canes answering back with two overtime wins to take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 tonight. I expected the Hurricanes to have a slow start after an eleven day layoff between sweeping the Flyers in the second round and Game 1 on Thursday night, with the Habs coming off a Game 7 win against the Sabres just three days prior. Classic rest vs. rust scenario there. The Canes scored just 33 seconds into the game on a Seth Jarvis goal, but then the Habs rattled off four goals in a row in the first 11:32 of the game, going up 4-1 on the road to start this series. Impressive start. Eric Robinson made it a game again, scoring for Carolina to make it 4-2 early in the second period, but Juraj Slafkovsky answered back in the third and then scored on the empty net for the Canadiens to open the series with a 6-2 win on the road and take home ice in the series, despite getting outshot 28-22, and giving the Hurricanes their first loss of the playoffs. Impressive win, but I pretty much completely threw that game out based off the long layoff that the Canes had. In Game 2, that game pretty much went exactly as I expected, with Carolina’s defense completely containing Montreal’s offense in a low scoring game. The Hurricanes scored just 2:33 into the game on a goal by Eric Robinson. About halfway through the first the Habs tied it up on a Josh Anderson goal, and it stay tied 1-1 till just 2:57 was left in the second period, and Nikolaj Ehlers gave the Canes the lead back. Josh Anderson tied it again on his second goal of the game with 7:09 left in regulation, taking it to overtime and then 3:29 into OT, Nikolaj Ehlers got his second of the game, and was the hero to win it for the Canes and tie up the series. I was surprised the game needed overtime (and lost my bet on the Canes in regulation), but the thing that really impressed me was how suppressed Montreal was offensively, only able to generate twelve shots on goal all game. Game 3 on Sunday night was pretty much the same with the Canes outshooting the Habs 38-13, but Montreal taking it to overtime before Carolina gave the Canadiens in their second loss in a row for the first time since mid-March. The Hurricanes scored first, with Shayne Gostisbehere scoring 8:24 into the game. Mike Matheson answered back to tie up the game with 4:32 left in the first, but only 54 seconds later, Taylor Hall gave Carolina the lead right back. 4:43 into the second period, Lane Hutson, who’s had a great playoffs, scored on the power play to tie it back up for the Habs. The game went to overtime and Andrei Svechnikov fired the puck through traffic (which looked like it got tipped by Aho), winning in overtime for the second game in a row to take a 2-1 series lead here on the road. The Canadiens haven’t been able to generate anything this series after the rust fell off for the Canes in the first period of Game 1. I’m going to keep betting Carolina here pretty much every game of this series. I’ll take the Canes for 1.5 units. I’ll also jump on the under here for a unit.
Series Bets
2u Carolina Hurricanes to win series in six games or less (-135)
Bets
1.5u Hurricanes ML (-142)
1u Hurricanes/Canadiens under 5.5 (-102)
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: 2-10 (-10.76 units)
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A Town's Zone 