With the new schedule release for the playoff qualifying rounds to begin August 1st, NHL fans will have the opportunity to watch hockey all day. Starting at 12:00pm est with the Rangers & Hurricanes (one of my top series to watch for this round) right through to a typical 10:30pm est Jets Flames match up. We will literally have no break from hockey, however fully deserved for what we have had to endure since March. So here’s how this will all go down; We’ll be releasing a blog per series with gambling lines, breakdowns, who were picking and why, and today we’ll be starting with the Hurricanes and Rangers. Side note: we’ll be pulling all lines from Oddsshark. Side side note: here’s a vid of the Caps to get you fired up.
In this blog we will be analyzing each match up, the gambling lines, & our picks to win/picks from a gambling stand point (because we here at Chirpin’ DMV are straight up degenerates). DMV fans sit back, relax, and get ready for arguably the most loaded month of hockey you will ever see in your lifetime! Happy August!
Stanley Cup Champion Bet
Since it’w the first blog, we’ll go ahead and make some Stanley Cup Champion bets here, and don’t be alarmed if they aren’t “the favorites” because the reality is that the favorites aren’t the money makers… and we’re here to stack that cheese baby. So we’ll be picking some high value, underdog picks here.
GROSE: Jets +5500, In this unique situation you have to take some equity here. We all know any team that get’s hot can make a splash in playoffs. Out of all the teams in this value range, I love the 5500 for the jets. Blake Wheeler, Laine, Schieffle, & Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck is one of the best goalies for teams in this value range.
AB: I would tend to agree with Grose in this situation where taking a high value pick is the smart way to go. However, I just don’t like the defensive unit that the Jets bring to the table. Call me crazy, but I think the team with the best value and a chance at the Stanley Cup is the Nashville Predators at +4000. They’ve got a great defensive unit, a solid forward squad with 2 great centers in Johansen and Duchene. They need to fix 2 things in order to win the Stanley Cup (which they are capable of doing in 2 month long run). 1. If Pekka can figure his shit out in net during the playoffs and go on a bit of a run, this team can be dangerous. 2. Special teams. If their powerplay can come to life in the Playoffs, WATCH OUT. This could be their year. The last 2 teams to win the Stanley Cup it was their first time doing it, why can’t the Predators be the 3rd??
COACH: I’m ridin’ with Phil the Thrill and the Yote’s at +5000. This is a low-key STACKED roster with Taylor Hall, OEL, Kessel, Schmaltz, Keller, Garland, and a chicken tender duo of Raanta and Kuemper. They’ll be getting Chychrun and Garland back from the IR, and while they weren’t out, let’s not forget the nagging injuries that held back Phil and OEL, so expect a breakout from both of them… and ya know, there’s that guy TAYLOR HALLLLL.
#6 Carolina Hurricanes (-140) vs #11 New York Rangers (+120)
New York Rangers
Its almost too unrealistic to be writing about, but the Rangers made the playoffs?!?! With arguably the MVP of the league, 2 hot young netminders, and an absolute legend in Henrik Lundquvist do we really want to see this team get into the first round? The Rangers sat just 2 points out of a playoff spot when the season came to an end. 5-4-1 in their last 10 to me seemed like a team that was going to find a way to make the playoffs. But does any of this even matter? We are in a new world! A new element where this 3 of 5 series is up for grabs. We have seen young hot rosters get hot and win a series or 2 in the past, the Rangers lead by the Bread Man’s absolutely sickening ability to score.
All things New York wise considered. Panarian can’t play 60 minutes a night so they will have to rely on some hot goaltending, special teams, and some strong systematic play.
Carolina Hurricanes
Well we saw it last year in this group after beating the Caps in 7 and making it to the conference finals. They are a good team that added some fire power at the trade deadline. Trade deadline additions we may have forgotten about: Vince Trocheck, Brady Skjei, Sami Vatanen.
Carolina has the fire power up front with guys like, Andrei Svechnikov Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen. Rounded out with some secondary scoring and depth in their line up the offense as we have seen before is strong.
Defensively, I love their line up. Adding Skeji to the core with stud Dougie Hamilton who was having another great year. This team is pretty strong on the back end. The biggest question is will Marazek be able to do what they need him to do, and if not will Riemer be the answer? If you ask a Leaf’s fan they would laugh at the thought of having James Riemer winning you a cup.
“We’re certainly not going into this series thinking we’re an underdog. We’re a Stanley Cup contender, and we know that.” Justin Williams was quoted. The confidence and determination in this group is definitely there.
PICK CENTER
Grose’s Picks: Carolina -140. I see this being a hurdle that is just too high for the Rangers. A hungry Carolina team is going to pull this one out. I actually got this at +100 on a bet here in July which I loved.
Series Correct Score: Hurricanes in 5 +325, I mean Justin Williams, Mr. Game 7, becomes Mr. Game 5! Is there a better story? I think this series has a bit of a back and forth but we will see the hurricanes win it.
Coaches Picks: Since this is the first blog of this series i’ll start with this: I have NO CLUE how any of this will play out. We have no idea who could come down with Coronavirus and have to miss a few days before they consecutive negative test results implemented by the NHL and NHLPA. Games 2 and 3 in this series are back-to-back on August 3rd and 4th, so think about this: Carolina wins game 1, then suddenly Aho, Slavin, and Staal (just to name 3) are “unable to play” (since the NHL won’t release names).. I mean.. How to you recover from that?! That could be two straight NYR wins right there… but for the sake of the blog, we’re gonna take all these picks with consideration of full rosters.
Alright, I’ll start off with this, and it literally might be verbatim of what AB wrote, but fuck the Hurricanes… personal opinion… gambling wise? I’ve got em all day in this series. They’re -140 (as you can see above) to win the series, which I mean come on, you’re not gonna NOT take Carolina in this series. Canes fans we’re pissed about this matchup because they went 0-4 vs the Rags this season.. But, did they like, forget they beat us in 7 last year after we dusted em 4-0 in the regular season? Here’s something to take into consideration: the Canes traded for Vatanen… but he never got to play a game… but thanks to this break, he’s backkkkk. They’ll also be getting back Dzingel and Reimer from injury, and the team itself, as much as I hate to say, is a young and loaded dark horse team. I’ve got em easily in this series so lay me $140 on Canes -140, and another hundo on the Canes to win the series in four (3-1 for all you dummies), which is set at +300. So, we’re betting $240 to win $640 (mius a few bones cause that -140 payout will hit between like $96-99 probably. I get that Panarin is a probable MVP winner, and Zibs has been lights out this season, but the goaltending is gonna screw em over I think. I mean, they have to choose between THREE GOALIES in Hank, Georgiev, and Shesterkin, and they don’t have the luxury of three round robin games to figure it out, not to mention the Canes were scoring at a 3.19 goals per game clip. It’s trial by fire for them and if their game 1 goalie shits the bed, well… with it only being a five game series, each game is of utmost importance. There’s no lines set on series MVPS, but i’d take AHO, at probably a +450 line (gotta think he’d be 2nd highest behind the bread man who’d sit at +200ish), so toss me another hundo on that and lets get this bread.
AB’s Picks: This series is a difficult series to predict. Actually pretty much every series will be difficult because we’ve never seen a situation like this unfold right in front of us like this. Now I would tend to agree with most here that the Carolina Hurricanes is the pick to make if this were directly after the regular season. However, the “expert gambler” would tell you that the value bet is on the Rangers at +120. Carolina has a deep roster with a lot of young talent with some huge pick ups at the trade deadline this year. They bolstered their defense a bit and can run 4 lines against the Rangers. However, the Rangers have the best player in the series BY FAR and maybe even the top 2 players if you include Mika Zibinejad. Artemi Panarin had an MVP season this year in my opinion and carried this team to an opportunity at the playoffs in this unforeseen tale of a new Stanley Cup Tournament. And the Rangers may have found a new goalie in their 2 young studs that started to take over The King’s job. For these reasons, my pick in this series is Rangers +120 as we see Artemi Panarin dominate the series.
Chirpin' DMV 