New York and New Jersey push towards the NHL Eastern Conference Finals
NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals-Betting Update
New York and New Jersey are each just one win away from meeting in the conference finals. The following is a brief update of each series as well as a few betting trends to help handicap the games.
No.7 Washington Capitals vs. No.1 New York Rangers
This best-of-seven series heads to a crucial Game 6 in Washington on Wednesday night after New York pulled-out a miraculous 3-2 victory in overtime as a 140 home favorite in Monday night’s Game 5.
With just 6.6 seconds left in regulation, Brad Richards took full advantage of a late-game power play to slide the puck past Capitals’ goalie Mike Smith to send the game to overtime. Still on the power play at the start of the first extra period, Marc Staal scored the game winner at the 1:35 mark to give New York a three games to two lead in the series. The big question for the Capitals will be their ability to put all this behind them to force a Game 7 in New York this Saturday.
Through five games, the Rangers have outshot Washington 149 to 133 and outscored the Caps 12-10. New York Goalie Henrik Lundqvist has a .925 save percentage while Capitals’ goalie Braden Holtby has a save percentage of .919.
Betting Trends
The Capitals are 2-8 in their last 10 conference semifinal games and 2-6 in their last eight home games against a team with a winning record on the road. The total has gone ‘over’ in seven of their last 10 conference semifinal playoff games.
The Rangers are 7-3 in their last 10 road games but just 2-6 in their last eight games following a win. The total has stayed ‘under’ in four of their last five playoff games as favorites and it has been a ‘push’ in six of their last 11 games overall.
Head-to-head, New York is 2-5 in its last seven games in Washington and the total has stayed ‘under’ in five of those seven games. These two have now split the last eight games 4-4 with each team winning twice at home and twice on the road. The total has yet to go ‘over’ in this series and has ended as a ‘push’ in three of the games with the total line set at five for all five games.
No.6 New Jersey Devils vs. No.5 Philadelphia Flyers
New Jersey’s ability to play shutdown defense and score a few crucial goals along the way have put it one win away from returning to the conference finals with a 3-1 series lead heading into Tuesday night’s Game 5 in Philadelphia.
If the Flyers are going to have any chance to extend this series past Tuesday night, they will need to do a much better job at getting the puck to the next. They managed less than 30 shots on goal in each of the last three games and have been outshot 135 to 106 in this series. Making this task even more difficult will be the loss of their leading scorer Claude Giroux for Game 5 due to a one-game suspension for an illegal hit on Dainius Zubrus in Game 4.
New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur, who just turned 40, has posted a save percentage of .906 in this series, while his counterpart in Philadelphia, Ilya Bryzgalov has a .902 save percentage through the first four games.
Betting Trends
The Devils are 4-1 in their last five games as underdogs and 9-3 in their last 12 games following a win. The total has gone ‘over’ in six of their last 13 playoff games as underdogs.
The Flyers are 2-5 in their last seven games as favorites at home and are now just 1-5 in their last six playoff games as favorites. The total has gone ‘over’ in 12 of their last 17 games overall.
Head-to-head, the favorite is 37-16 in the last 53 meetings overall and New Jersey is 4-10 in its last 14 games played in Philadelphia. The total has gone ‘over’ in three of four games in this series.
Dave Schwab
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