The NHL regular season is over. The days off are over. Finally, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin tonight with two series. If games go like they did in Round 1 of last year, fans and bettors alike are in for quite the wild ride.
Saturday again has two series openers, which start in the evening and go into the night. Now is the time to dive in and quickly see what bets may be lurking.
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Picks for April 19
Blues vs. Jets Picks
The Winnipeg Jets got off to an insane start and won something like 15 of their first 16 contests to start the season. Winnipeg held on to take the top seed in the Western Conference and the Presidents’ Trophy. Now, here comes the question marks.
Playoff nightmares have been well documented. Connor Hellebuyck may still be having flashbacks from last year’s series against Colorado. The last three playoff series for Winnipeg have featured goaltending and defensive breakdowns repeatedly. Bettors understandably are somewhat shy to wager on Winnipeg.
Now, Jordan Binnington has won a Stanley Cup and a gold medal at the Four Nations. Both goalatenders have a postseason record around .500. However, the last time St. Louis made the playoffs was in 2022. That was the series where Binnington stood on his head for two games and, unfortunately, got injured. Colorado advanced past St. Louis and then went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The numbers appear skewed in favor of Connor Hellebuyck when one examines the regular-season statistics. Hellebuyck expects to win his third Vezina Trophy while Binnington battled to stay around a .900 save percentage all season.
Binnington is as volatile as they come, and yet seems to produce more often at crucial moments. Winnipeg has dropped Hellebuyck’s last eight playoff starts ATS. It is a crazy yet true stat. This is so hard to look away from and ignore.
St. Louis has its problems, but Jim Montgomery has this team playing well, while Winnipeg was a little banged up, injury-wise, and record-wise heading into the second season. One bit of advice is that playoff series odds swing wildly. Timing is everything. However, St. Louis is a reasonable +160 to win over Winnipeg.
Winnipeg will pile on the shots at times in Game 1, and that may only help Jordan Binnington more. Take the over of 23.5 saves for the St. Louis goaltender at -115 via DraftKings and St. Louis to steal Game 1 in Winnipeg at +164.
Pick: Take the over (23.5) on Jordan Binnington saves -115 via DraftKings
Avalanche vs. Starts Picks
The second Saturday night game headlines the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars. Storylines abound here. Does Gabriel Landeskog play? How does Dallas cope without Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson? Which Jake Oettinger shows up? How does MacKenzie Blackwood handle what could be coined as pinball hockey?
Typically, this is where betting writers throw in a whole bunch of stats to make them look good. However, the series here will be a lot like Calgary-Edmonton from a couple of years ago and Winnipeg-Colorado last season. Goals and intensity are on the menu. Jake Oettinger has given up 17 goals in his previous four starts (all losses).
Again, Oettinger bled goals last year in the second season, and worse, the previous two games this season were against teams not in the playoffs. Colorado is going to skate hard, fast, and vicious. The Avalanche play to outscore the opponent. Oettinger fell off a cliff after Game 3 against Edmonton last season. He gave up nine goals on his final 55 shots faced.
Assuming both teams come out and try to outscore their problems is not unreasonable. Colorado excels at drawing teams into their style of play. The chances of seeing 7+ goals combined are elevated given all the energy for Game 1. The other bet I like is both teams to score in the first period. That stands at +180 currently.
Pick: Colorado and Dallas Over 6.5 Goals +125 via BetMGM.
