One of the best months for sports, that is underrated, is the middle of the month of March. College basketball, NFL free agency, MLB spring training and the NBA’s stretch run are all in the early stages of happening. In addition, the NHL is finishing up their regular season as most teams have between 10-12 games left before what many call the best playoffs of any sports take place. The NHL posteason.
Currently the Tampa Bay Lightning are easily the favorites as they sit with 110 points with 12 games left to play. To see how much of a favorite they are, just check out ice hockey betting odds online available in New Jersey. However, the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets are five more teams that currently sit as the favorites to win the NHL Stanley Cup.
In the Eastern Conference, the Lightning have had a dominating regular season as the standings will show. The Bruins might be behind the Lightning by double-digit points, but the odds makers believe that the Bruins are the East’s second best team with Toronto being a close third. This will no doubt be a competitive and heated postseason in the Eastern Conference.
In the Western Conference, the two favorites are the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames. The two teams are battling it out as the regular season draws to an end for first place status and home ice throughout the Western Conference postseason – potentially the Stanley Cup Finals if the Tampa Bay Lightning were to lose. That’s not to say the Winnipeg Jets or Nashville Preditors should be overlooked because all it takes in a postseason series is for a goaltender to get hot and you never know how far you could advance into the postseason.
In terms of teams to keep your eye on, in regards to placing a bet for the most bang for your buck, the Carolina Hurricanes are a team to be considered a darkhorse team by many. Of course if we learned anything about the NHL playoffs last year it’s that we should never count out any postseason team. The Vegas Golden Knights are a team that is currenlty sitting in the middle of the postseason standings in the Western Conference, and we all remember what they accomplished last season. Other teams to keep an eye on in terms of getting the most value for your bet are the St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Remember though, just because teams in the past have made runs deep into the NHL postseason, doesn’t mean that’s always the case. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks have shown why they are among the NHL best over the course of nearly the entire season. Those teams aren’t going to be easy to eliminate from the postseason. However, like the Vegas Golden Knights showed us last year, the NHL is a league where nearly any postseason team has a chance to make a deep run – which is one of the reasons many people consider the NHL postseason to be the best of al the major sports leagues.
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