Best Bet for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final
After stealing a crucial win on the road in Game 4 to go up 3-1 in the series, the Stanley Cup Trophy will be in the house as the Colorado Avalanche host the Tampa Bay Lightning in tonight’s Game 5. With plenty of different angles for sports bettors to play, there is extreme value on […]
After stealing a crucial win on the road in Game 4 to go up 3-1 in the series, the Stanley Cup Trophy will be in the house as the Colorado Avalanche host the Tampa Bay Lightning in tonight’s Game 5. With plenty of different angles for sports bettors to play, there is extreme value on one side.
Best Bet: Tampa Bay Lightning ML (+150), per BetMGM
Experience is a strange thing in professional sports. It matters if you have it, and doesn’t matter if you don’t. The Lightning clearly have it after winning back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, but they will be playing with their backs against the wall tonight.
Tampa Bay’s head coach Jon Cooper declared that star forward Brayden Point was “extremely probable”to play in the Stanley Cup Final, but has yet to lace up during the series. After participating in morning skate, the team has deemed Point to be a game-time decision along with centreman Anthony Cirelli.
The Lightning will undoubtedly be emptying the tank in an attempt to force a Game 6 back home in Tampa. Veteran forward Pat Maroon believes that his group has what it takes to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.
Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy has been fantastic in net all postseason. Vasilevskiy is one of just three goalies in NHL history to play in 100 playoff games before his 28th birthday, joining Pat Roy and Grant Fuhr.
Vasilevskiy is the game’s best between the pipes, but the Avs have proven to be a handful. Playing at a pace no team in the NHL can match, Colorado was able to bother Vasilevskiy in Game 2, netting seven goals in a dominant victory.
Colorado’s head coach Jared Bednar deserves credit for sticking with G Darcy Keumper after pulling him in Game 3’s 6-2 defeat. Keumper bounced back with a 37-save performance in Game 4’s 3-2 win in overtime.
The public has been all over Colorado. After opening as -150 favorites, the price for Avs moneyline has soared to -185, which is a pretty penny in an elimination game.
While I expect the Avs to win Lord Stanley’s Cup, I think the experienced Lightning are capable of forcing a Game 6, living to die another day. If the Lightning’s opening price (+125) would have stayed put, this is a game I would have stay away from. But since BetMGM is now offering +150 odds on the Lightning, this has become my best bet.
Featured image via Mark J. Rebilas – USA TODAY Sports
