NHL Playoffs

The top two seeds in the Western Conference are in action late on Thursday as one looks to finish off their series while the other aims to take a stranglehold on their cross-state rival. We will look at both of them in this piece, suggesting plays on both games.

Chicago (+175) @ Vancouver (-210); Total set at 5.5

After laying an egg in Game 4, the Canucks are hoping to be sharp once again back at home and put their hated enemy Chicago Blackhawks out of the playoffs and on to the golf course. The whole Vancouver Canucks team played pitifully, including Roberto Luongo who ended up getting pulled. As much as that is cause for concern for Canucks fans and backers, historically Luongo comes out on fire in his next game. After getting pulled twice earlier this season, the following nights Luongo was back between the pipes in a 2-1 SO loss and a 3-2 loss against Phoenix. Yes, neither of those games ended up in victories for the Canucks, but with both being on the latter half of back-to-backs, other factors like tired legs are involved. From a defensive standpoint though, Roberto knows how to rebound after a complete off night and I expect him to do the same tonight with a birth to the 2nd round on the line.

Chicago’s scorers got some hope and confidence after their Game 4 win but they know that to win in a tough building like Vancouver’s they will need to play a fundamentally sound road game based around defense. They won’t be able to crack the Canucks for the same offensive outburst and will need to help out their own goalie Corey Crawford tonight.

Chicago is 2-6 O/U when coming off a victory while the Canucks are 1-4 O/U coming off a loss of 3 or more goals and 1-7-1 O/U after scoring two goals or less last time out. With a strong performance from both goalies expected here and the total back up to 5.5 the play here is on the under.

Take this game under 5.5 goals tonight.

San Jose (-125) @ L.A. (+105); Total set at 5

Game 3 in this series was about as wild as it gets in the NHL playoffs San Jose managed to come back from a 4-0 early deficit, tie the game up at 5’s by the end of the second period and complete the comeback with a 6-5 OT win. The Sharks got the Kings to play an up-tempo game and that plays right into the hands of San Jose and all their offensive weapons. It was a crushing loss to the Kings who likely sat in the dressing room in the second intermission shell-shocked that they were in a tie game at that stage; so it will be interesting to see how they respond tonight.

A loss like that could easily crush the spirit of a team as they know they let one slip away. Everyone knows the Kings let that game slip away so it is important for them to get off to a good start tonight to try and erase those memories. If they fall behind early, it likely is all over for the Kings in this game and in the series as well. They are 1-5 SU after scoring 5 or more goals last time out and 1-6 SU as a home underdog in their last seven tries. They don’t have the scoring power to keep up with San Jose and will need to commit to playing solid defense from the get-go tonight if they want to even up the series.

The Sharks on the other hand know that they got away with one last game and will make sure they don’t fall behind like that again tonight. They are 6-0 SU when their opponent scored five or more goals last time out and 10-3 SU on the road against a winning home team lately. Knowing that if they win this series they will be up against Detroit next round and seeing them rest already, they would like to wrap this up as soon as possible and that begins with a win tonight.

In the end, I believe the Sharks just have too much firepower for the Kings to contend with tonight and that loss in Game 3 was the back-breaker for L.A. There is no coming back from a loss like that and they will pack it in tonight.

Take the Sharks on the ML as our free pick.