It's finally here, Stanley Cup Finals, and we get a great matchup of two great teams with very different styles.
Tampa Bay Lightning ML (+135); Like this bet for a number of reasons. First of all, the Avs have faced very mediocre goalies throughout their playoff run. Tonight they go up against the Big Cat, who has been playing like his old stingy self, giving up only 5 goals in the last 4 games. Not to mention, the Bolts have one of the best defensive units to go around him, nothing like the Preds/Blues/Oilers have. While the Avalanche have an incredible defensive squad of their own, their Goalie play has been marred by random nights of lapses. Pavel Francouz gave them a very solid and reliable tender against one of the best offensive units in the NHL to put them in the Cup Final. I am interested to see how long the leash is for Kuemper, should he run into trouble in this series. So we get bonus value on a team that has tons of Stanley Cup Finals experience, is playing great hockey, with a superior goalie, and just as talented defensive unit. Not to mention could get Brayden Point back in this game for the Lightning. Also I don't expect we see Kadri back from his thumb surgery tonight for the Avs. Add in the fact that the Avalanche are on a 9 day rest, and I think tonight belongs to the Bolts. I think the Avalanche have a lot of play in this series, as they are such a great and deep team, but I think tonight points to the Lightning. I think this series goes 6-7 games.
Lightning/Avalanche Total Under 6 Goals; This bet goes along with a lot of what I wrote in the above paragraph. Two great defensive units, the Big Cat, and a Lightning offense that is effective but not flashy. I expect we get more of the disciplined Lightning we saw late in the Ranger's series, where they limited their opponents PP opportunities severely. The Av's goals per game average will see a sharp decline in this series and I think the total is a little inflated for game 1. 3-2 Lightning Final.
Good luck tonight.