Game 6 of the NHL Finals will begin tonight at 8 p.m. on NBC. The Vancouver Canucks will travel east across the United States to play the Boston Bruins in what could be the final game of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vancouver was able to win a low-scoring, gritty Game 5 in their own building on Friday night and now puts the pressure fully on the Bruins, who have won both games at home during this series.
Game 6 Odds
Boston Bruins -145 (Wager $145 to win $100. Line opened at -130)
The Bruins have a 59% chance to win Game 6 based on these odds.
Vancouver Canucks +125 (Wager $100 to win $125. Line opened at +110)
The Canucks have a 44% chance to win Game 6 based on these odds.
Total: 5 (OVER -120, UNDER -105)
The OVER has a 55% chance to happen based on these odds.
Boston Bruins
The Bruins have won both games at home in the NHL Finals and have done so in very impressive fashion. They've outscored Vancouver by a combined 12-1 in these two games and have outclassed and outworked the Canucks. Whether or not the hit on Nathan Horton by Vancouver's Aaron Rome has been the catalyst for this or not remains to be seen. However, I do think the Bruins were able to allow that injury to help them mentally. This game tonight is obviously a must-win situation for the Bruins and that brings a lot of pressure. Boston has been able to play with the best team in hockey so far in this series and they've done so without a great amount of pressure, at least in my opinion. Tonight is a different story as the Bruins need to win or their season is over. Having such a great goal tender in Tim Thomas obviously helps. Between his being a brick wall and the Bruins' stout defense in front of him, the Bruins haven't given up the rebound goals in front nor have they allowed Vancouver to dominate the style of play. I think Boston has a very good chance to win tonight and I think they have a very good price on them, at least for now. Remember, Thomas has only given up six goals in the five games in this series. Unlucky for him is that his team has dropped three of those five games.
Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks can 100-percent dictate how this game will be played if they come out and score early. Boston is obviously going to have to play a very high tempo style of play and I think they will do so early. The Canucks can take Boston out of their comfort zone and take them away from what they want to accomplish in this game. Roberto Luongo, outside of Games 3 and 4, has been phenomenal in this series. In the other three games he has yielded just two goals (both scored in Game 2). I think Luongo's swagger is going to play a major role in tonight's game. After the game he took a pot-shot at Thomas saying he would have stopped what was the game-winning goal because he doesn't come outside of the net the way Thomas does. He better be ready to back that up tonight The Sedin twins haven't had the best series, but I'm expecting them to show up big tonight. If the Canucks want to be able to hoist the Cup they are going to have to apply a lot of pressure on Boston tonight and outskate them. They are faster and more finesse as a team and if they are able to control the style of play tonight and get a lot of shots on net, they will win.
Official play: UNDER 5 goals (-105)
Comments. . .
What are your thoughts on tonight's game?