NHL Stanley Cup Finals Betting

The rematch has been set.  It’s the defending Stanley Cup Champions Detroit Red Wings in a rematch with defending and present Eastern Conference Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.  Last year the series took 6 games to decide, but the Wings never looked like they could lose.  This year it’s basically the same Red Wings team against a slightly tweaked Penguins team.  The series odds look like this:

Penguins +135
Red Wings -155

The Red Wings are given a slight edge in this series by the bookies, but in my opinion their edge is actually much higher.  The Wings stormed through the Hawks, even without Datsyuk and Lidstrom for a few games in the series.  (Given Havlat and Khabibulin were also out and those 2 are huge parts of the Hawks team).  A few Red Wings including Datsyuk, Holmstrom and even arguably Hossa are still waiting to play their best hockey and when better to play it than the Stanley Cup Finals.  Look for Zetterberg to have another great series, as well as “The Mule” Franzen.

Pittsburgh is currently firing on all cylinders riding a 5 game winning streak into the finals and having both Crosby and Malkin finding their A games at the same time.  A good reason for this might be that they were playing defensively challenged teams Washington and Carolina, and an injured Cam Ward.  But you still have to give them credit, especially Malkin, for realy bringing it when it matters.  In my hockey opinion this level of offense isn’t going to continue for them against Detroit.  The Wings aren’t even that great a defensive team, but they will be able to shut down at least one line as long as Lidstrom is healthy.  If the Penguins are going to win they will need an amazing performance from Fleury and both Crosby and Malkin to be firing on all cylinders for the duration of the finals.  The Pens definitely have a better chance than last year, but they are just not good enough to dethrone the champs.

Bet on the Detroit Red Wings in this series.

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