HOCKEY NHL ARTICLES

It will be interesting to see how much action we see prior to the trade deadline in 10 days. There have already been a handful of trades that should be meaningful this postseason as Toronto got tougher with the acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues, and the New York Rangers picked up defensive forward Tyler Motte. We are still likely to see a flurry of action though as teams fine tune their rosters for the postseason grind.... 

History was made in the NHL on Wednesday night. The Toronto Maple Leafs were officially the largest favorites per the NHL betting odds in league history. Toronto closed as a whopping -650 favorite over the decimated Chicago Blackhawks, and the puck line was an unprecedented 2.5 goals. We’ve never seen that before either, and that led to some plucky bettors backing the Blackhawks at that price. The oddsmakers ended up being proven correct as Toronto won the game 5-2 even though there was no scoring in the third period. There’s an substory given this result too. Teams are starting to tank for Connor Bedard who is arguably the best prospect since Connor McDavid was setting the world on fire as a junior hockey star. Bedard was named “the future of hockey” by The Hockey News at just 13 years old, and he was named the MVP at the 2023 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships with 23 points in seven games as he led Canada to its 20th gold medal at the event. A superstar like Bedard can turn a franchise around so teams like Chicago, Columbus, and Anaheim are bottoming out in the hopes of landing him. ... 

We are about to enter the homestretch of the NHL season. Teams are two-thirds of the way through their schedule, and we will likely see a flurry of moves over the next two weeks as clubs buy or sell prior to the NHL trade deadline on Friday, March 3, 2023. Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun and Vancouver’s Luke Schenn are two of the top targets for teams and could help flip the Stanley Cup odds... 

Pretty much every NHL team will be in action on Saturday night. There will be 14 games over 10+ hours as all but four teams in the league will be on the ice. ABC is celebrating the full day of hockey with a doubleheader as the Tampa Bay Lightning face the Dallas Stars in a rematch of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals at 1 p.m. ET, while Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals take on the ... 

The NHL is back in action after the All-Star Break. We are approaching the final third of the regular season, and only a handful of teams are truly out of the playoff race. In the Eastern Conference, every team aside from Montreal and Columbus has at least 50 points, while there are just five teams in the Western Conference to cross off at this point. The Eastern Conference has been t... 

Steven Stamkos said after the Tampa Bay Lightning lost Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final 7-0 that we’ll see what kind of team they are. Well, they are the two-time defending champs and they responded as such getting back in the series with a 6-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. Tampa beat the Rangers four straight after dropping the first two games of the Eastern Conference final and a change of scenery was just what they needed. They could be without leading scorer Nikita Kuch... 

The Colorado Avalanche have made their run through the NHL playoffs look easy. After an eight-day break they opened the Stanley Cup final with a dramatic 4-3 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning for their sixth straight win improving to 13-2 in the postseason. Don’t hand them the Cup just yet, though. Tampa’s quest for a three-peat started with a loss to Toronto in the opening round. The Lightning also dropped the first two games of the Eastern Conference final, so you could say they have the Avalanche right where they want them. Tampa will look to get even when the clubs meet in Game 2 on Saturday night. The Stanley Cup final matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche takes place at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 16, 2022, from Ball Arena in Denver and will air live on ABC. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game of the Stanley Cup finals. ... 

It’s been so long since they played you might forget the Colorado Avalanche will be competing for Lord Stanley’s Cup. The team with the most wins and points in the Western Conference this season, the Avalanche rolled through the first three rounds losing just two games. They swept Nashville in the opening round and Edmonton in the Western Conference final and will now be tasked with ending the quest of the Tampa Bay Lightning for a three-peat. Tampa finished third in the Atlantic Division, but t... 

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t ready to concede the throne just yet. After dropping the first two games of the Eastern Conference final to the New York Rangers, Tampa regrouped with a comeback win in Game 3 and a dominating performance in Game 4 to level the series. Game 5 takes place Thursday inside Madison Square Garden where the Rangers have won eight straight games outscoring opponents 35-16. Including their regular season shutout the Rangers are 3-0 a... 

The upstart New York Rangers, fresh off a dominant Game 7 road win over Carolina to advance to the Eastern Conference final, are all that stands between the Tampa Bay Lightning and a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Tampa didn’t ... 

If you like goal scoring the NHL’s Western Conference final between the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche will likely have plenty of it. The clubs ranked among the top seven in goals per game during the regular season and they lead the leagu... 

Sometimes calling a rivalry a ‘battle’ or ‘war’ goes a little too far. In the case of the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, it doesn’t go far enough. The Battle of Alberta continues with Game 5 of the second round Stanley Cup playoff series in Calgary on Thursday. It’s been three decades since the clubs last met in the postseason, but that hasn’t cooled anything from the provincial neighbors situated roughly 190 miles apart. In fact, it only intensified this series and the animosity is prevale... 

During the Stanley Cup playoffs a hot goaltender can steal a game and possibly even a series. The St. Louis Blues rode the strong play of Jordan Binnington to the Stanley Cup title a few years ago and the netminder had seemingly found the groove that placed him in the top-five in the Calder Trophy and Vezina Trophy voting in 2019. Binnington was 4-1 in five starts since replacing Ville Husso in Game 4 of the Minnesota series stopping 94.8 percent of the shots he faced. Binnington has been ruled ... 

The Carolina Hurricanes fought off a seven game series against the Boston Bruins. All seven games were won on home ice. Now Carolina faces the Rangers in a series that looks even to many gamblers. First round action saw the Rangers rise from the dead to beat the Penguins in a seven game thriller. New York fell behind 3-1 in the series but rallied to win the final three games with the NHL odds. Game seven was an overtime thriller that nearly made Ranger fans explode for joy. The New York Rangers will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.This best of seven series will take place from May 18 through May 30, 2022. ... 

The National Hockey League has to be smiling about the second-round playoff matchups. And one of the most important from a grow the game perspective is in the Sunshine State. For the second straight year, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning will meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Last year Tampa Bay won the series en route to its second straight Stanley Cup championship. This year’s series has the Panthers as an opening favorite. Florida won the Presidents’ Trophy as the best team in the regular season. The betting public is quite familiar with the Lightning as the Stanley Cup champion. The Tampa Bay Lightning will face the Florida Panthers in the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This series will run from May 17 through May 29, 2022. ... 

On Wednesday night TNT will bring a potential series closer in the opening round series between the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins. The Canes and Bruins have been a series that has shown the value of home ice advantage. An old saying about the NHL Playoffs goes as follows; “You are never in trouble until you lose a playoff game on home ice.” Specifically, that applies to the current s... 

TNT will get a Central Division rivalry game on Thursday night in which elimination is possible. The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues have one of the oldest and hottest rivalries in the NHL. And that has shown in this first round series. Anyone betting on the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs realizes that there is nothing like playoff hockey. For most fans, playoff hockey is different from regular season hockey. There is no comparison between the two with the NHL lines. For example, the Blues have do... 

Proving that winning the President’s Trophy for amassing the most points during the regular season doesn’t mean a whole lot when the playoffs start, the Florida Panthers dropped Game 1 of their Stanley Cup playoff series to the Washington Capitals, 4-2. Having stolen home ice advantage with an upset victory, the Caps look to take control of the series when the scene shifts to our nation’s capital for Game 3 on Saturday. The Stanley Cup Playoff matchup between the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals takes place at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 7, 2022, from Capital One Arena in Washington DC and will air live on ESPN. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the NHL playoff schedule. ... 

The New York Rangers enter the Stanley Cup playoffs with a ton of confidence after winning 52 regular season games and finishing second in the tough Metropolitan Division, far exceeding expectations. Experience counts for something and the Pittsburgh Penguins certainly have that making their 16th straight postseason appearance with three titles in that span. But the Penguins haven’t won an opening round series in three years and will have to penetrate the best goalie in the NHL in order to win a... 

At the onset of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs is the expectation of change. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning are still a respected contender in the Eastern Conference. But the Bolts are not the favorite. Tampa Bay’s intra-state rival Florida Panthers have taken the point in the minds of gamblers. A late regular season surge by the Toronto Maple Leafs has made them the second choice of the masses. Tampa Bay is the third choice, followed by the solid Carolina Hurrica... 

For the past two years, the Colorado Avalanche were the favorite to win the Western Conference and Stanley Cup championship. But Colorado let down gamblers, their fans, and themselves with colossal flops. Last year was especially painful when Colorado went up 2-0 against the Vegas Golden Knights, only to blow the next four games. This year the Avalanche are an even bigger favorite than ever before. The question is if there is a viable alternative in the Western Conference. The Golden Rule is tha... 

Saturday afternoon will feature a renewal of an Original Six rivalry from the NHL between two playoff-bound teams. Indeed, one of the great NHL rivalries is between the Bruins and Rangers. This hated rivalry dates back almost a century and the Original Six franchises. Boston and New York bring large fan bases of every age group and plenty of history. This year they have been two of the best and most popular teams to bet on with NHL gamblers. New York is revitalized with head coach Gerard Gallant... 

On Thursday night, ESPN will televise what is likely to be a first-round playoff preview between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Lightning and Leafs trail the first place Florida Panthers in the Atlantic Division. As the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, the Lightning have expended massive amounts of effort and energy. To win a Stanley Cup, a team will leave everything on the ice and maybe a little more. Consider that a championship run takes four rounds of brutally g... 

On Saturday afternoon, ABC and ESPN+ will offer a matinee matchup of playoff-bound Central Division rivals. The Minnesota Wild are having their typical good but not great season. Minnesota’s big question heading into next month’s playoffs is if a starting goaltender can emerge for a serious playoff run. The acquisition of Marc Andre-Fleury was a tell that Minnesota had no confidence in Cam Talbot. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues have goaltending concerns in their own right. Jordan Binnington, the... 

On Wednesday night, TNT offers a matchup of a team fighting for its Western Conference playoff life against the conference powerhouse. The Los Angeles Kings have overcome injuries and a lack of reliable goal-scoring for a tenuous hold on one of the final Western Conference playoff positions. By contrast, the Colorado Avalanche is running away and hiding with the top seed in the Western Conference. Colorado is a Stanley Cup favorite for the third consecutive season.The Colorado Avalanche will hos...