Monday night May 11th is an off-night in the NHL as the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs have no games featured. A big reason for that is that there are only six teams left in the hunt for the championship. Those teams, along with their betting odds to win the Cup outright, are listed below.
Chicago Blackhawks, +240 (12/5), bet365
Anaheim Ducks, +240 (12/5), bet365
New York Rangers, +600 (6/1), Paddy Power
Tampa Bay Lightning, +600 (6/1), Betway
Washington Capitals, +1000 (10/1), BetVictor
Montreal Canadiens, +1000 (10/1), BetFred
Chicago and Anaheim will meet in the 2015 Western Conference finals and the two teams are considered evenly matched. BetVictor, for example, have both teams priced at -110 (10/11) to win their upcoming series, one that Anaheim will hold home-ice advantage for. Not surprisingly, in the outright winner’s market for the Cup, both teams are similarly priced as well, as per the odds above.
Over in the Eastern Conference things are much more complicated as of Monday night. The Rangers, Lightning, Capitals, and Canadiens are all still in the mix although one of those four teams could be out as of Tuesday night.
The Canadiens, although they are that team, have shown some resilience in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. After falling behind 0-3 against Tampa Bay, Montreal have made some gains.
Heading into game six on Tuesday night, the Canadiens are down 2-3 in the series and they will be looking to pull even. However, playing on the road, they are considered underdogs in game six as the Lightning are priced at -160 (5/8; bet365) to win straight up. Should Tampa Bay lose game six they may just crumble when they head back to the Bell Centre so perhaps all is riding on Tuesday night’s game.
With New York and Washington, the series is on the verge of being decided. The two teams will meet on Wednesday night in a game from Madison Square Garden that will decide the series. In the case of the Rangers, they have home-ice advantage heading into game seven. Furthermore, they would have home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference finals as well.
Should New York survive Washington on Wednesday then they may very well become the new Stanley Cup favorites. At this point in the betting market for the Cup, perhaps someone looking to back Anaheim or Chicago should only do so if they believe Washington will defeat the Rangers.
If you think the Rangers are going to win game seven over the Caps then you might expect longer odds on Anaheim and Chicago later in the week.
Recommendation at this point: take Anaheim, who are 8-1 in the post-season, to win the western conference finals.