At this writing, seven of the eight first-round series in the 2021 NHL playoffs have come to an end, with Montreal and Toronto set to finish the last series with Game 7 from Toronto on Monday night.
Let’s take a quick look at the three matchups that we know, as you weigh your online NHL betting options for the next round of the hockey postseason.
NHL News: Second Round Predictions
East Division:
#3 Boston Bruins vs #4 N.Y. Islanders
What? The top two seeds are out? Welcome to NHL hockey, where top seeds regularly fall by the wayside. Once again, the Islanders are playing another “last” season out at Nassau Coliseum. In the first round, the Isles knocked out the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games, clinching a series win at home for the first time in 28 years. The B’s only needed five games to send home the Washington Capitals, outsourcing Alex Ovechkin & Company 16-10.
These two teams are quite similar, scoring 3.2 (Boston) and 3.5 (New York) goals per playoff game, and permitting 2.0 (Boston) and 2.7 (New York) goals per night. The Islanders won five of the eight matchups between the two teams during the season, but they only outscored Boston 20-18 in the process — and only scored three goals combined in the last three meetings. For Boston, the key player could be Taylor Hall, who came to Beantown at the trade deadline and scored four times in three games against the Isles — the only three wins for Boston in the series. Boston is better on the power play so far in the postseason, as they scored on 5 of 19 chances (26.3%). The Islanders permitted three goals on a dozen power plays for Pittsburg (75% penalty kill), so that’s an area the B’s could exploit.
Series Prediction:
Boston in 5
Central Division:
#1 Carolina Hurricanes vs #3 Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay has already won the first game in this series, and they beat Florida in six games in the first round, as captain Steven Stamkos returned after a 16-game absence to put up three goals and five assists in the series. Nikita Kucherov missed the whole regular season after a hip operation but had three goals and eight assists to lead the NHL in scoring in the first round. Andrei Vasilevskiy won 31 of the team’s 36 victories this regular season and had a .929 save percentage in the first round.
Carolina has some exciting young scorers, led by Sebastian Aho, who had five goals in the six-game win over Nashville. Martin Necas posted five points, and veteran Jordan Staal contributed as well, with four goals. Dougie Hamilton has four points from the blue line. The key player for Carolina will be Alexander Nedeljkovic, who posted a .932 save percentage in the regular season but let in a soft goal in the 2-1 loss in the series opener. During the regular season, he posted a .962 save percentage against Tampa Bay, so hopefully he can find that form — and the Hurricanes can get some more offense.
Series Prediction:
Tampa Bay in 5
West Division:
#1 Colorado Avalanche vs #2 Vegas Golden Knights
The Avs got off to a huge start in this series, rolling to a 7-1 laugher in the opener. The Avalanche come in having won their first President’s Trophy in 20 years. That was the last time they hoisted a Stanley Cup as well. Colorado swept St. Louis in easy fashion and had almost a week off after outsourcing the Blues, 20-7 and scored on 50 percent of their power play chances. Nathan MacKinnon had six goals and three assists in the sweep, and Gabriel Landeskog contributed eight points, with Mikko Rantanen adding seven points.
The teams split their eight games in the regular season, though, so don’t expect Vegas to go quietly. Max Pacioretty had six goals and two assists for Vegas against Colorado during the regular season, so expect him to contribute here as well. The team has two outstanding goalies, in Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner. The team turned to Lehner in a surprise after the Wild pushed Vegas to seven games in the first round, and Lehner got absolutely undressed. Expect Fleury to come back in and restore order, but will it be enough?
Series Prediction:
Colorado in 6
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