What bettors need to know: Capitals at Penguins
By DUSTIN NIELSON
Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins
Series saver
Only two teams have ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the NHL playoffs. Heading into Game 3, the Penguins knew they needed a win and it was reflected in their play. Kris Letang’s overtime winning goal could prove to be a series-changing moment.
“It was desperation for us, obviously," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby told reporters. "We're still in a similar position now, but we knew this was a big game."
Malkin arrives
After going five games without a goal, Evgeni Malkin proved that persistence paid off. Malkin fired nine shots on goal in Game 3 and managed to beat Simeon Varlamov once.
"I was ready," Malkin told the media after the game. "I felt good. I didn't play well the last two games."
Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma says it was nice to see his super star take it to another level. Despite the offensive struggles, Malkin still has 12 points in nine playoff games.
Questionable officiating?
If the Washington Capitals are going to win Game 4 they will need to stay out of the penalty box. The Pens scored once on seven power-play opportunities in Game 3.
The Penguins were only penalized twice and that didn’t sit well with Washington Head Coach Bruce Boudreau.
"I hope I never hear them complain about penalties again -- picks and everything else," Boudreau told the press. "I think we might have deserved the penalties, but they sure as hell deserved a few more than they got."
Alex Ovechkin didn’t want to comment about the officiating after the game but did he say he thought it was a joke that the Penguins were penalized only twice.
Varly, Varly, Varly
After winning five games in a row, it will be interesting to see how Simeon Varlamov bounces back in Game 4. Despite taking the loss, the Russian rookie was once again impressive making 39 saves, many of them in spectacular fashion.
"As soon as the game ended, I told Sidney Crosby, 'He's a good goalie’,” Penguins forward Max Talbot told reporters. “But I think we can beat him, if we put 45 shots on him."
In Game 3 the Penguins had 42 shots and if they want to win again they may need even more than that Friday night.
On the Ice - Friday
By Judd Hall
The Eastern Conference Semifinals spoiled us on Wednesday with two fantastic games that couldn’t be decided in just 60 minutes. Nothing is set in stone for either series in Friday’s slate, but some daggers could be polished up before we get into the full swing of the weekend.
Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins
Game 3 between the Caps and Pens had a lot to live up to after what we saw last Monday. But I’m pretty sure a 3-2 overtime win for Pittsburgh as a $1.75 home favorite did enough to get blood boiling a little on both sides of the aisle for the rest of the series.
When looking at the hard stats, you can say the Penguins were ready to put on a show by outshooting Washington 42-23. Nine of those shots were taken by Evgeni Malkin, who finally looked like the guy that led the league in scoring this season. He even forced the Caps into a pair of penalties during the game as well.
As solid as Malkin and the offense was on Wednesday, Pittsburgh’s defense was really how they picked up Win No. 1 of the series.
The Pens did an admirable job against Alex Ovechkin in giving up a fluke goal and an assist on five shots. Ovechkin wasn’t their sole focus, however. Pitt was determined to cut the Capitals’ offense off from the get go. Washington had very few chances to dump the puck into the attack zone for a chance to set up behind the defense, which is how they like to operate. And even though the Caps were able to score two goals, they were both off of lucky bounces.
The sportsbooks are expecting this will become a best-of-three series after Friday night by installing the Penguins as $1.70 home favorites (risk $170 to win $100) with the total rolling in at 5 ½.
If I were looking solely at who had more advantages to handicap this game, then I’d take the Penguins. The referees are crushing hard on Pittsburgh right now as evidenced by a 17-9 power play advantage against the Capitals in this round. And the Pens were able to capitalize (no pun intended) with three special teams goals in their last 10 chances.
Something else to take a hard look at is the ‘under’ in Game 4. A lot of players were complaining about the ice surface. That doesn’t sound like much but a chippy rink can result in a lot of turnovers and, more importantly, ruined scoring chances. Adding a little more fuel to the low scoring fire is that the Caps have seen the ‘under’ go 7-2 in their last nine games. And the Pens have cashed tickets for the ‘under’ at a 7-3 clip.
You can catch this game on Versus at 7:05 p.m. EDT.
Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes
If I were to tell you that the Bruins would be outclassed by the Hurricanes before Game 3, you’d say I was crazy.
That’s exactly what happened on Wednesday night as Carolina outshot (41-23) and won the faceoff battle (30-25) to a 3-2 win in extra time as a $1.05 home pup.
The ‘Canes got a fantastic effort out of goaltender Cam Ward as he stopped 21 of the 23 shots that Boston fired his way. Jussi Jokinen got back to his old ways with the game-winner two minutes into overtime. Jokinen now has scored with .2 seconds in regulation, a game-tying goal and an overtime winner during the 2009 playoffs.
Carolina is still having problems with its power play. It went 1-for-3 on Wednesday night to improve (I use that term loosely) to 1-for-5 during the Boston series. For the entire postseason, the Hurricanes are converting eight percent of their advantages.
Luckily for the ‘Canes, Boston is not playing to its capabilities now.
The Bruins have yet to score a power play goal in this series. Even worse, is the fact that they’ve given up those advantages with dumb penalties on the attack. Marc Savard colliding into Ward in Game 3 comes to mind as proof.
Boston is also a dependable puck handling squad, but that has not been the case lately. Last Wednesday, the B’s were charged with just two giveaways but I counted at least 10. The most damaging turnover came from rear guard Zdeno Chara, who was picked off by Sergei Samsonov for the OT lamp lighter.
Things have gotten so bad for the Bruins that head coach Claude Julien is giving the team Thursday off so they can unwind. It isn’t a bad idea when you consider that Boston is 12-4 this year when taking a day off after a defeat.
Will that day off help the B’s draw even in the series? Most betting shops believe so as Boston is listed as a $1.30 road “chalk” with a total of five.
It’s not going to be easy for the Bruins to win on Friday though. Carolina is 12-2 at the RBC Center since the beginning of March. However, the ‘Canes are 13-16 following a win after a day off.
The puck drops in Raleigh at 7:35 p.m. EDT on NHL Center Ice package.
vegasinsider.com
Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Kris Letang scored at 11:23 of OT to give the Penguins a 3-2 win over the Captials in Game 3 as -180 favorites. That game's five goals went UNDER the posted over/under (5.5).
Ruslan Fedotenko and Evgeni Malkin potted the other goals for the Penguins, and Sidney Crosby collected a pair of assists in the win.
Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom scored for the Capitals, who were +160 underdogs. Simeon Varlamov stopped 39 shots in a losing effort.
Team records:
Washington: 50-24-8
Pittsburgh: 45-28-9
Washington most recently:
When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing Calgary are 4-6
After playing Pittsburgh are 6-4
After a loss are 6-4
Pittsburgh most recently:
When playing on Friday are 5-5
Before playing Ottawa are 6-4
After playing Washington are 8-2
After a win are 6-4
A few trends to consider:
Washington is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing on the road against Pittsburgh
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Washington's last 9 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games when playing Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Pittsburgh's last 5 games at home
Pittsburgh is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against Washington
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Pittsburgh's last 5 games when playing at home against Washington
Next up:
Pittsburgh at Washington, Saturday, May 9
Boston Bruins vs. Carolina Hurricanes
Jussi Jokinen scored the game-winning goal at 2:48 of overtime to lift the Hurricanes to a 3-2 win over the Bruins in Game 3 on Wednesday as +105 underdogs. That game's five goals went as a PUSH against the posted over/under (5).
Eric Staal and Sergei Samsonov scored the other goals, and Cam Ward made 21 saves.
Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi scored for the Bruins, who had been favored at -125. Tim Thomas stopped 38 shots in the loss.
Team records:
Boston: 53-19-10
Carolina: 45-30-7
Boston most recently:
When playing on Friday are 6-4
Before playing Ottawa are 5-5
After playing Carolina are 5-5
After a loss are 5-5
Carolina most recently:
When playing on Friday are 6-4
Before playing Boston are 5-5
After playing Boston are 7-3
After a win are 6-4
A few trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Boston's last 9 games when playing on the road against Carolina
Boston is 13-4 SU in its last 17 games
Boston is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing Carolina
Boston is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Carolina
Carolina is 15-2 SU in its last 17 games at home
Carolina is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Carolina's last 9 games when playing at home against Boston
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Carolina's last 6 games
Next up:
Carolina at Boston, Sunday, May 10
WASHINGTON (56-27-0-9, 121 pts.) at PITTSBURGH (50-32-0-9, 109 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
PITTSBURGH is 33-11 ATS (+19.4 Units) in a home game where where the total is 5.5 over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 72-46 ATS (-1.6 Units) second half of the season over the last 2 seasons.
PITTSBURGH is 20-12 ATS (+6.8 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
WASHINGTON is 24-7 ATS (+12.5 Units) revenging a loss versus opponent this season.
WASHINGTON is 25-15 ATS (+6.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
PITTSBURGH is 9-6 (+2.9 Units) against the spread versus WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
PITTSBURGH is 9-6-0 straight up against WASHINGTON over the last 3 seasons
9 of 14 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+3.4 Units)
BOSTON (58-19-0-12, 128 pts.) at CAROLINA (51-33-0-8, 110 pts.)
Top Trends for this game.
CAROLINA is 51-41 ATS (-10.2 Units) in all games this season.
CAROLINA is 33-21 ATS (+2.4 Units) second half of the season this season.
CAROLINA is 24-19 ATS (+24.0 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record this season.
CAROLINA is 17-9 ATS (+27.6 Units) when playing against a team with a winning record in the second half of the season this season.
Head-to-Head Series History
CAROLINA is 8-7 (+0.9 Units) against the spread versus BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
CAROLINA is 8-7-0 straight up against BOSTON over the last 3 seasons
8 of 14 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+1.6 Units)
WASHINGTON vs. PITTSBURGH
Washington is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games when playing Pittsburgh
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games when playing Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Pittsburgh's last 10 games
BOSTON vs. CAROLINA
Boston is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing Carolina
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Boston's last 9 games on the road
Carolina is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Boston
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Carolina's last 9 games when playing at home against Boston
NHL Playoffs
Pittsburgh won Game 3 in OT to keep this series interesting; they lost five of seven to Washington this year, after being 10-2 in previous three years against the Caps; Penguins are 3-12 on power play last two games, after being 0-17 before that; they outshot Washington 26-10 in 2nd/3rd periods in Game 3. Home side has now won all three series games. Over is 7-2-1 in last ten series games.
Bruins got outshot 41-23 here in Game 3; after winning first five playoff games this spring, Boston needs win here to avoid being in 3-1 hole. B's scored 3rd period goal Wednesday on only four shots to force OT, but they lost, Carolina's third win in four home playoff games. Bruins 0-9 on power play in series; Hurricanes are 1-5, but they've outshot Boston in first period in all three games, an indicator they taking play to favorites.
Washington at Pittsburgh
Washington:
24-7 SU revenging a loss
61-41 SU when playing their 3rd game in 5 days
Pittsburgh:
1-8 SU at home in the 4th game of a playoff series
4-6 SU when trailing in a playoff series
Boston at Carolina
Boston:
1-5 SU AWAY when the total is 5 or less
37-46 SU revenging a same season loss
Carolina:
29-16 SU at home
10-3 SU on Friday nights