Betting NHL series are not easy, especially not this year with every single number one seed eliminated in the first round. You can often find a lot of value betting teams down 0-1 in a series. The public may overreact to one bad loss, or it may be a couple of lucky bounces or penalties that influence a game. Here is a look at two of the more competitive round two series and how to bet them.
Boston Bruins vs Columbus Blue Jackets
This series has already produced two overtime contests, and the difficulty of this series is reflected in the betting odds with the Bruins slight favorites to win the series at -120.
These two squads have been far superior out of the East this postseason, and it seems likely that the winner of this series will represent the East in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Bruins are +200, and the Blue Jackets +300 to win the East. Instead of just taking a winner in the series, potentially look into betting one of these teams to represent the Eastern Conference at double the odds.
Another intriguing way to tackle this series is to take a “game and series double” bet. If you like the Blue Jackets to win today and then use that momentum to win the series, take them in the “game and series double” a bet which parlays the game winner with the series winner at +170 odds.
San Jose Sharks vs Colorado Avalanche
The Sharks looked dominant in their opening game versus the Avalanche Friday night. In that game, they used momentum off their historical come from behind victory over the Golden Knights, where they scored 4 goals in the third period and won the game in overtime.
Despite how good the Sharks looked in game one, the Avalanche were able to even up the series, winning game 2 on the road.
Looking into today’s game, the Avalanche are favorites at home. The Avalanche played well on their own ice in the regular season posting a 21-14-6 record. The first time they played at home versus the Calgary Flames in round one, they won convincingly by a score of 6-2.
Although this is another tricky series and very evenly matched, look for the games to be high scoring. In three of the regular season meetings there were nine, seven, and eight goals scored in each.
Thus far in the postseason, between these two teams we have seen 5-2 and 4-3 games. With the Avalanche ranked first among playoff teams averaging 37.9 shots per game, and the Sharks averaging 32.6 look for game three, and potentially the rest of the series to be high scoring. With these two teams scoring most of their goals in the second and third period of games, take advantage of in-game betting where you can often get a better number if neither team gets out to a quick start.
