The sports betting world is scratching its collective head wondering how the Philadelphia Flyers wind up in the Stanley Cup finals. The trip for the Blackhawks was a little bumpy in goal, but once Antti Niemi kicked in it became obvious that no one was stopping the Blackhawks. It is entirely possible that there is still no one that can stop the Blackhawks at this point.
When you bet on World Cup games, you pick the team with the most impressive record and the best players. In horse betting you pick the odds for the most successful horse running in those particular race conditions. The play of the Flyers has pushed the Stanley Cup betting odds on the Chicago Blackhawks from EVEN last week, to 2 to 5 this week. The Flyers stand as 3 to 1 favorites to win the Cup. Going by those odds, it looks like Vegas thinks the Flyers have a chance.
Going into the Stanley Cup finals the Flyers have a very hot goalie in Michael Leighton, one of their snipers has returned in Jeff Carter and they are getting excellent leadership by example from captain Mike Richards. The problem the Flyers face is their defense. Once you get past Chris Pronger, there is not a lot of speed or power on the Flyers’ defense.
The other problem for the Flyers is that they are no longer playing over-achieving teams like the Boston Bruins or Montreal Canadiens. The Chicago Blackhawks are for real, and they have three solid scoring lines that can put the puck in the net on any given night. The Chicago defense is loaded with names like Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell, Nick Boynton and Brent Seabrook. The offense has Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, John Madden and Dustin Byfuglien. Any of those guys, on any given shift, can score.
The Flyers put up offensive threats such as Mike Richards, Danny Briere, Jeff Carter and Ville Leino. On defense the Flyers have Chris Pronger, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and Ryan Parent. Now compare the two sets of defensive and offensive stars for each team and you begin to see why the Flyers have an incredible uphill battle on their hands.
In game one the Blackhawks will set the tempo early. The Flyers will come out and do what they do best; they will try and pound the Blackhawks into submission. The problem for the Flyers is that the Blackhawks are way too smart to fall for that. With veteran leadership like Marian Hossa on the Blackhawks roster, they will know exactly how to counteract the strong-arm tactics of the Flyers. At that point it becomes a shoot-out, and the Flyers will lose in a shoot-out to the Blackhawks 10 out of 10 times.
Look for Niemi to keep adding to his playoff MVP resume, and look for Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to be on the score sheet more than once in this game. If the Flyers are not careful, this could be a very short Stanley Cup finals series.
Pick: Chicago Blackhawks 6-2
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