The Official 2018-19 NHL hockey thread

Winnipeg is toast!

Does anyone remember how bad St. Louis looked before they fired Mike Yeo? Some pundits said they and the Kings were the two worst teams in the NHL. Look at them now!

Big game for Radulov, who used to play for the Habs tonight. The Stars are up 3-2 against Nashville. I had Nashvile beating Winnpeg in WC finals and TB beating Washington in EC finals. Looks Washington might be the only team to make the Final 4.

Yep....gosh..after Tampa, Pittsburg, Calgary....now the Jets are gone and Nashville on their way out.......what's going on.....am done with my pools en tab,,,,,,at least ..go Leafs....

Doc Holliday said:

This is playoffs hockey....which many refer as a brand new season where average teams start playing like good teams, where good teams start playing like great teams and where great teams start looking like deer caught in headlights and then wonder "what the fuck is happening?"

In the playoffs a hot goaltender can carry a team throughout the playoffs, especially in a best-of-seven series against the same team. Suddenly the team's top players who had a so-so season start playing like the top player everyone knew they were and role players are matched up against the opposing team's top line, the best players get more ice-time, the defence tightens up and guess what? An average team can suddenly start looking like a Stanley Cup contender!

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Bingo Doc. You’ve covered the subject quite well.

Doc Holliday said:

This is playoffs hockey....which many refer as a brand new season where average teams start playing like good teams, where good teams start playing like great teams and where great teams start looking like deer caught in headlights and then wonder "what the fuck is happening?"

In the playoffs a hot goaltender can carry a team throughout the playoffs, especially in a best-of-seven series against the same team. Suddenly the team's top players who had a so-so season start playing like the top player everyone knew they were and role players are matched up against the opposing team's top line, the best players get more ice-time, the defence tightens up and guess what? An average team can suddenly start looking like a Stanley Cup contender!

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The hockey playoffs seem so unpredictable this year that you wonder if this will chill the amount of money being wagered on the playoffs. It seems like the NFL, NBA and even MLB playoffs may have more reasonable levels of predictability. At this point, bettors have to be getting a little gunshy on the NHL playoffs. I was one and done with my $100 bet on the Lightning. It was a joke. In retrospect, it's looking like the most foolish bet I ever made in my life. At the time though, even with the odds, I thought it was easy money. There are a lot of people out there who got hosed much worse than I did.

EagerBeaver said:

The hockey playoffs seem so unpredictable this year that you wonder if this will chill the amount of money being wagered on the playoffs. It seems like the NFL, NBA and even MLB playoffs may have more reasonable levels of predictability. At this point, bettors have to be getting a little gunshy on the NHL playoffs. I was one and done with my $100 bet on the Lightning. It was a joke. In retrospect, it's looking like the most foolish bet I ever made in my life. At the time though, even with the odds, I thought it was easy money. There are a lot of people out there who got hosed much worse than I did.

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It sucks . Especially when the team you backed never seemed to be in it at all as Tampa got swept. And I truly empathize but let it go . That’s sports betting. Perhaps it was a bit of a mistake trying to play it safe by picking a Heavy favourite. There is a saying. Scared money don’t make no money.
As you accurately pointed out the NHL can be much more unpredictable than other sports leagues . In hockey at times all it takes is a hot goalie to flip any series on its head and produce upsets and therefore make the short priced favourites not worthy of backing . But on the flip side that’s where all the money is if your willing to take a risk on the underdogs.
For example Toronto just before the playoffs was at 20/1 odds . Pretty generous if you ask me for a team that for 2/3 of the regular season was playing a good brand of hockey. A team that was an odds on favourite at many books but written off sort of towards the end of the season. Writing off a team like Toronto that was feeling the weight of expectations early on in my opinion would only make them stronger by taking so much pressure off them. At least that’s how I saw it .
This is a talented top heavy team that can score . If they where to play some fundamentally sound defence and kept it decent in the back with the kind of goalie they have then they would have as good a chance as any team.
Will they win their series and how far will the go ? Quite frankly nobody knows . But at those odds knowing I will be well rewarded if they do I am willing to take a chance on them .
In the end be it Toronto or another team your basically looking for value . With Tampa’s paltry short odds and given the nature of this game I honestly saw no value and hence no point in backing them.
Having said that sports betting in general in the long run for most is a losing proposition. ( especially when picking individual games is concerned) .
But futures betting is a different animal altogether. If you know what your doing at least you have a chance.
I know all this is for fun but still don’t get discouraged. In the end it’s simple math . You could lose 5 bets in a row like the one with Tampa but you will still be just one high paying futures winning bet away from getting even and then some . You could be wrong 15,20 times but all it takes is one winner to turn a profit ,,,and that is pretty much why I think futures betting is so appealing to many.
GL on the next one EB

Who is that adorable Asian girl who just sang the national anthems in Toronto?

Shots are 25-12 and face offs 19-4 both in favor of Boston. This is not what you want if you are a Leafs fan. Boston is a team of muckers and they are mucking things up right now.

EagerBeaver said:

Toronto - Boston is going 7.

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EB, respect! So, who will prevail in the final game? Apparently, last time Toronto beat Boston in a playoff series was in 1959. Some of us probably were not born yet.

Leading 3-2 at home and unable to seal the deal playing only one good period.......sorry but they will not do it tomorrow...leadership and determination are on the other side.

San Jose 3 Vegas 2......i watched it.....oh what a game and what a finish with a shorthanded goal by Hertl in double OT.....doing so he wrote history. Vegas was dominant with 58 shots BUT finally Jones was spectacular. I gave up on my Sharks by the end of the season...they played with Jones so poorly in the last 10-12 games....BUT yesterday they made my evening and i slept very well.......but too bad would not bet on them tomorrow...

Gaby you didn’t mention that Hertl guaranteed a game 7 and personally upheld the guarantee with an OT goal in game 6. This put him in the Big Game Guarantee Hall of Fame with Joe Namath (guaranteed Super Bowl III victory and was named Super Bowl MVP for 19 Point underdog Jets), Khalid El Amin (in pregame interview on live TV guaranteed that 10 point underdog UConn would win and “shock the world” in 1999 NCAA basketball championship game, and then hit key basket and winning FTs) and Mark Messier (Rangers victory in game 7 of EC Finals 1994 guaranteed by Messier, who then had hat trick).

I heard Hertl’s guarantee and didn’t take it seriously, because there are a lot of Messier wannabes in hockey who make the guarantee and fail to back it up. Hertl backed it up.

For those of you who had been wishing to see the Caps taken to a game 7 and (perhaps) knocked out, Jordan Staal has granted your wish as to the former. The latter remains to be seen.

Suspens is still on with the Caps playing a game 7 tomorrow....those young Canes never give up......ready for another big surprise????

Bye bye Predators....you were so boring to watch......major changes will happen with that team.....

3 game 7's coming up, do not even want to guess who will win these. Got a 24 pack of Sapporo, fine bud and Nachos will be served for the games.

Well that's the best to do.....you found the solution....so enjoy.

The madness continued yesterday with Nashville getting bumped.Another division champ eliminated.

Canes/Caps series will also go to 7. I guess not many saw that coming after Washington had gone up 2-0. Boy was Ovechkin in a foul mood at the end of yesterday’s game.

In the Vegas/SJ series Hertl made good on he’s guarantee by scoring a shorthanded goal and taking matters into he’s own hands. But the real hero was Jones that night if you ask me . He stole that game by stopping almost 60 shots.
If San Jose can somehow complete the comeback they will end up as the top seed in the West with a favourable matchup going forward.Will try and watch this one .

Big game 7 tonight. Neither team has won consecutive games in this series ,it’s as if there taking turns. There has been no momentum carried forward by the winner . If the trend continues it will be Toronto’s night.
I’m really hoping that the Leafs can pull it off . But for them to be successful they will have to play better special teams. They can’t score and they certainly can’t kill them power play penalties. Boston in my opinion is still in this series because there PP is at almost 45% . I don’t know how it’s all gonna play out tonight but as another poster mentioned it seems that this talented Leafs team is missing some veteran leadership at times.

Nobody has mentioned it, But Sharks Coach DeBoer has accused Vegas Coach Gallant of trash-talking to Sharks players, especially Logan Couture, and in response, Gallant called DeBoer a "Clown":

http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/26587730/coach-speak-vgk-gallant-calls-deboer-clown

No love is being lost between these two teams!