The 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are nearly in the Conference Final stages. Just five teams remain in the hunt for Lord Stanley and of those teams, the Los Angeles Kings are favored to win the championship. The Kings will play in the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Coyotes for the right to play in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Below are the current odds to win the 2012 Stanley Cup. The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers are still playing their second round matchup, so both of them are still alive with odds. The Rangers currently hold a 3-2 game lead in that best of seven series and would have to lose both of the final two games in the series for their season to come to an end.
The odds are courtesy the Las Vegas Hotel Sportsbook (formerly the Las Vegas Hilton).
Los Angeles Kings 2/1: The LA Kings are the sexy pick to win the Stanley Cup of the teams left to play. The Kings are a great story after finishing in the eighth spot in the Western Conference. They knocked off the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks and the second-seeded St. Louis Blues in back-to-back series and thus have been tabbed as the team to beat in the playoffs. They get great goal tending from Jonathon Quick and are a young, flashy group.
New York Rangers 9/4: The odds for the Rangers are currently 9/4 (2.25 to 1) as they are picked as the representative from the Eastern Conference to head to the finals. However, they still have to play Game 6 tonight in their second round matchup against Washington and could possibly have to play in a Game 7 coming up on Friday. If they are knocked out, they will obviously have no more odds but going seven games could chance the current odds.
New Jersey Devils 3/1: A bit surprising on the odds here, but they will either have to play the Washington Caps or the New York Rangers in the East Finals, so they're going to have a chance to get to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Devils finished as the sixth seed in the East and were one of several teams to eclipse the 100-point plateau during the regular season. They're a bit of a surprise to be here at this point but the fact remains that they are here. They have good goal scorers and quality goal tending. Those two are big.
Phoenix Coyotes 4/1: The NHL-owned team has reached the Conference Finals. Kind of surprising that they are here, but stop the conspiracy talk. Mike Smith is one of the best goalies in the league and he has helped the team get to new heights. Phoenix finished as the No. 3 seed in the West, winning their division. Several teams finished with more wins and points in the West but winning the division allowed them to have home ice and thus have marched to the Conference Finals. It's going to be a great matchup with LA.
Washington Capitals 16/1: Odds right where they should be. Washington has played the Rangers tough in the team's second round matchup but in order to keep playing, they have to literally keep winning. The Caps are down 3-2 to the Rangers and have to win both to get to the Conference Finals. This could be a really good bet as the team has veteran leaders, great goal scorers and a wealth of talent on the ice. However, if they can't win the next two games against the Rangers, it won't matter.