On Tuesday night, three first-round series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs featured games, starting in Charlotte as the N.Y. Islanders fought to stave off elimination at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. Ilya Sorokin absolutely stood on his head for the visitors as the Islanders scrapped their way to a 3-2 win, sending the series back to New York for a Game 6. The Dallas Stars played their most complete game of the postseason so far, delivering a 4-0 blanking of the Minnesota Wild to take a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 set for Minneapolis. In Edmonton, the Oilers now have the L.A. Kings on the brink after a 6-3 tattooing. On Wednesday, the Florida Panthers are in Boston hoping to avoid elimination at the hands of the Bruins, and the surprising Seattle Kraken, who picked up the first home playoff victory in franchise history in overtime in Game 4, now head back to Colorado looking to get their second win of the series in Denver. We have NHL betting predictions for each showdown.
NHL Betting News: Playoff Preview for April 26
Florida Panthers (+200) at Boston Bruins (-250)
NHL Odds: Game 5 (O/U 6)
When: 7:00 pm ET
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
TV / Streaming: ESPN
Bruins lead, 3-1
The key for the Panthers was going to be maintaining a fast pace on offense while avoiding errors on the back end, but neither has really worked as Florida has just 11 goals in four games. Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett have four goals between them, but the other forwards have not produced. Carter Verheaghe and Aleksander Barkov scored 65 goals and 86 assists combined during the season but have only managed a goal and three assists between them in this series. The defense, on the other hand, has been awful, allowing 10 goals in the last two games and 16 overall.
The Bruins have gotten nine goals and nine assists out of Taylor Hall, Jake DeBrusk and Tyler Bertuzzi, which means that the pressure is off the likes of Brad Marchand and Nick Foligno. Charlie McAvoy and Dmitry Orlov have been active contributors on offense from the point, combining for six assists. In net, Linus Ullmark recovered from the one loss in the series and overall has stopped 125 of 135 shots. Bruins to win.
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Seattle Kraken (+150) at Colorado Avalanche (-185)
NHL Odds: Game 5 (O/U 6)
When: 9:30 pm ET
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
TV / Streaming: ESPN
Series tied, 2-2
Not only did the Colorado Avalanche lose the momentum in this series by dropping Game 4 in overtime, they also lost one of their top players, Cale Makar, after Makar delivered a dirty hit to Jared McCann in that same game. McCann has already been ruled out for Game 5, and the NHL Office of Player Safety issued Makar a one-game ban for the hit. The Avs have been getting plenty of offense, scoring eight goals in the last two games. Mikko Rantanen, Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon have combined for eight goals and six assists. The problems have come on defense, as the team has permitted seven goals in the last two games. Netminder Alexander Georgiev has permitted 12 goals on 131 shots – not a huge number, but also not an elite postseason performance.
Seattle is basically playing with house money at this point, as few expected them to push the defending Stanley Cup champions this hard. Jaden Schwartz, Yanni Gourde and Alexander Wennberg have combined for three goals and seven assists, and blueliners Jamie Oleksiak and Justin Schultz have kicked in a pair of goals and five assists between them. The defensemen might do well to pay a bit more attention in their own end, though, as the Avs have had a ton of open looks. Philipp Grubauer has 120 saves on 131 shots, but the Kraken could do a lot to cut down on these easy looks. Avalanche to win.
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