It has been exactly nine years since Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings reached the Stanley Cup finals and lost to Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens, and while they may not have the great one leading the way once again, they do have an excellent young goaltender they can count on in Jonathan Quick. Quick was named the first star once again in a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes to open their best-of-seven Western conference finals series on Sunday night, narrowing the number of wins needed to get back to the Stanley Cup finals to just three. The Kings have come a long way it seems for a team that barely squeezed in to the Western conference playoffs as the eighth and final seed, but for anybody that has paid attention to this team all season, they know just how dangerous this 5Dimes favorite can be.

After striking out in his pursuit to sign free agent Brad Richards to a contract in the offseason, Kings’ general manager Dean Lombardi moved forward with Mike Richards as his No. 2 center behind Anze Kopitar. Richards was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn, and while that may seem like a steep price to pay, it won’t be if it helps bring a Stanley Cup to Los Angeles. After bringing Richards in to the fold, Lombardi solidified his forward units by trading for Jeff Carter at the trade deadline, reuniting him with Richards from their days in Philadelphia, where they led the Flyers to a Stanley Cup final. Richards and Carter were the perfect additions to a group that already had Kopitar, captain Dustin Brown, and some strong depth in the form of guys like Dwight King and Jarret Stoll, and that has been proven with the success this group has had in these online sports betting playoffs.

On the blue line, young playmakers Drew Doughty and Slava Voynov have been helped along by veterans Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene, and Rob Scuderi. While Scuderi has the Stanley Cup experience from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Greene and Mitchell are the type of strong defensive defenseman that often go overlooked in contrast to the offensive playmakers that seem to dominate the spotlight. Each of the Kings’ six defenseman seem to compliment one another well, and that has helped Los Angeles’ best player get to the next betting level.

Quick has been tremendous all sportsbook season for the Kings, but there is no denying he has saved his best work for the playoffs. His ability to move laterally in the net and cover the bottom half of the net matches his name perfectly: quick. However, it has been his incredible poise and composure that has been most impressive about the 26-year old in this series, as he continues to give his team a chance to win on every night.

With the 10-year sports betting anniversary of the Kings’ last trip to the Stanley Cup finals next season, it would be that much sweeter for Los Angeles to help its fans forget that loss to the Canadiens by finally bringing home the Cup in 2012. There is no denying that this Kings’ team has what it takes to go all the way this season, now it is a matter of clamping down and taking care of business with three wins to go before a Stanley Cup final berth.

The online betting hockey fans are still scratching their heads trying to figure out what happened to get to this point. If any betting expert would have speculated when the NHL season started that the Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings would meet in the Western Conference Finals, questions would have been raised as to the accuracy of that expert’s betting systems. But after two rounds of the NHL playoffs, that is exactly the scenario that we face. The sports betting sites see that the two best teams in the Western Conference are indeed the Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes. Now we get to see who will play in the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in the team’s history.

Los Angeles Kings
A sports betting sites of the Kings’ roster shows that this team has some scoring power that is just not using right now. To this point, the Kings have been led by team captain Dustin Brown who seems to be scoring the majority of the important goals for the team. But Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are all showing glimmers of hope with each passing game. The Kings already have one of the top goaltenders in the league in Jonathan Quick. If Los Angeles can surround Quick with consistent scoring, then the Kings can live up to its Stanley Cup potential. Los Angeles also has a very active defense in the offensive zone. That is something that the Coyotes have not really had to deal with so far in the playoffs.

Phoenix Coyotes
The betting experts are going to have to give Phoenix its due as one of the top teams in the league. Since the 2009-2010 season, the Coyotes have been a playoff team that has been consistently improving. When Phoenix made the change at goalie from Ilya Bryzgalov to Mike Smith, it elevated the team to a whole new level. Phoenix is one of the top defensive teams in the playoffs and has been extremely stingy in giving up goals. The Coyotes can score, but it has shown inconsistency when it comes to applying sustained pressure. To beat the Kings, the Coyotes are going to have to keep the pressure on Jonathan Quick. To this point, Los Angeles has made that very difficult on every team it has played.

The Bottom Line
The best sportsbook online writers may not like this Western Conference Finals matchup because it does not have the big name scorers or the world famous goaltenders in it. What it does have is two solid teams that are finally going to get the recognition that they deserve. The Coyotes have been steadily improving for years and have shown incredible resiliency in these playoffs. The Kings have proven that the moves it made in the offseason and at the trade deadline were the right ones. Los Angeles could have the best goaltender in the league in Jonathan Quick and that is always a good thing when a team is trying to win a Stanley Cup.

Pick: Los Angeles Kings in six

The 2012 NHL playoffs have been some of the most violent but also some of the most exciting in the history of the game. As a result, the 16 teams that entered the playoffs experienced plenty of power play time as their opponents would continue to take sports betting penalties. Over the past couple of seasons, we have seen, that a good power play can carry a team to a Stanley Cup Championship. At the same time, a bad power play is often to blame when heavyweights are eliminated before the Stanley Cup finals. Today we will examine the importance of a good power play.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh took part in one of the most high scoring violent playoff series in the history of sports in round one. The two teams combined for nearly 60 goals in six hard fought games. For this reason, the Philadelphia Flyers led the league in power play percentage during the playoffs, with 35.7 percent. Philadelphia was blessed with a talented offense, that in theory should have carried the club to their first betting online Stanley Cup title in 37 years. However, Philadelphia was also the most penalized time during the playoffs, which led to their elimination by the New Jersey Devils last night.

On the other hand, sometimes a good power play is irrelevant, as was the case during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals featuring the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins. During the series, the Canucks entered with the top power play, while the Bruins entered with the worst. However, the Canucks offense basically evaporated at the start of the series, and the Bruins offense caught fire. With this being the case, the Bruins were able to dominate and win the series in seven games, even with the worst power play in the history of the NHL playoffs.

Those who were betting online (or at least most wagering players, anyway) had Philadelphia rolling over New Jersey in the second round of the playoffs, but it is the Devils who have a 3-1 series lead as we head into Game 5 in the City of Brotherly Love on Tuesday night.

Devils Flyers Odds – Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET

The Devils dominated the Flyers in a 4-2 win in Game 4 and are on the cusp of an upset at online betting sites, and they outshot Philadelphia 43-22 throughout the game. Dainius Zubrus notched a pair of goals to lead the attack, while Marek Zidlicky and Petr Sykora added singles and Martin Brodeur stopped 20 shots on his 40th birthday for the Devils. Players that use legal online sports betting services weren’t giving much credit to the Devils coming into the playoffs, but now the Devils are just one game away from the Eastern Conference finals and they could have an extra edge in Game 5 if the Flyers are without a player that was crowned the best player in the world after the Pittsburgh series.

Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist, but he has a hearing with Brendan Shanahan on Monday regarding his hit to the head of Zubrus, who returned to score in the third period, but it was obviously a head shot and online betting players will have to factor this in on Tuesday. Scott Hartnell also scored, while Ilya Bryzgalov made 39 saves and kept the Flyers in Game 4, but the story of the game was Giroux, who could be suspended just as he seemed to start getting back on track after his incredible play against the Penguins. The Flyers still have enough talent to win, but obviously, having a player like Giroux in your lineup is going to boost your chances.

Philadelphia is a -146 favorite to win Game 5 at home, where the Flyers won Game 1, but it has been downhill since then and could get even worse if Giroux isn’t in the lineup on Tuesday. It was definitely an offense worthy of a suspension and it’ll be interesting to see if Shanahan drops the hammer. Regardless, the Flyers have to prepare for this game that could end their season and they can’t afford to be outshot again, not by 21. But the difference could come in goal and even though Bryzgalov certainly played well in Game 4, Brodeur has stepped up his game and is playing like a goalie 10 years his junior. It’ll be a typically tight game between these Atlantic Division rivals, but wager on New Jersey on the road in your online sportsbook.

Online Betting Overview
The New Jersey Devils have come a long way from the beginning of last season when it looked like New Jersey was on its way to the worst season in team history. The Devils, as always, do not score a lot of goals. New Jersey prefers to win using defense. That is not to say that the Devils do not have goal scorers on its team. Ilya Kovalchuk is a natural goal scorer who seems to have curbed his scoring touch in New Jersey to fit the more defensive minded approach the Devils have. But Kovalchuk has been a factor in these playoffs and has been scoring key goals. As the Devils inch closer to the Eastern Conference Finals, many people are wondering if the Devils are the best team in the East.

As the 2012 Kentucky Derby betting heats up, the Philadelphia Flyers are cooling off. The offensive push that the Flyers were hoping for is just not happening in the second round. Eccentric goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has been playing some of the best hockey of his career the past few games, but it is just not enough to get the Flyers motivated to win. The Flyers are trying to play a grinding and defensive style of hockey against the team that invented grinding and defensive hockey. New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur is playing like he is 20 years old and his defense believes in him. The Flyers need to pick up the pace on offense or this could be Philly’s last game of the season.

New Jersey Devils
The Devils are getting timely scoring from Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk to go along with some very strong defensive play. The Devils are proving to the best online sports betting sites that all an NHL team needs to do is make the playoffs and not worry about where it finishes. The Devils entered the playoffs as the sixth seed and have been rock-solid ever since. The Devils still play a version of the “keep away” game that is the trap, but this new version of the Devils has added a little more excitement to its game than previous teams. This team pressures the front of the net a lot more than other New Jersey teams have in the past. That is one of the things making the biggest difference in these playoffs.

Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers find itself in a position that all too many NHL playoff teams have found themselves in. The Flyers are getting great goaltending but it cannot put the puck in the opposition’s net. The Devils are suffocating players like Jaromir Jagr and Claude Giroux and allowing no room for the Flyers to move. The online betting experts are starting to see how much of a mistake it was for Philadelphia to allow Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to leave the team. It did not matter much in the regular season, but that scoring punch those two players added is sorely missed in the playoffs.

The Bottom Line
The Devils are going to continue to take away ice from the Flyers, but Philadelphia will start pushing back. The Flyers may not have what it takes to win this series, but it does have what it takes to stay in the hunt.

Pick: Philadelphia Flyers

The 2012 NHL playoffs are now well underway, and while eight teams fight for their spot in the “Frozen Four” or conference semi finals, there has been no shortage of drama or intrigue so far. The defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks were all considered legitimate cup contenders but knocked out in the opening round, and that has left the door wide open in both conferences. None of the four sportsbook options remaining in the Western conference have won a Stanley Cup, one of several big storylines that have dominated the headlines as the second round gets underway. It hasn’t been without controversy as league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan and the officials have come under fire at times for some of their decisions, but a look at the bigger online sports betting picture shows there has been a lot more exciting storylines so far.

When the Philadelphia Flyers traded Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and a series of draft picks, it was absolutely shocking to the hockey world. The Flyers moved their captain and emotional leader, a gold medal winner and a Stanley Cup finalist, in exchange for a series of young players that had yet to prove they could play at an elite level in the NHL. It didn’t take long for the fans in Philadelphia to realize the genius of the move, as general manager Paul Holmgren had turned a key piece in to two young players capable of contributing to a playoff team with Simmonds and Schenn. While the move has worked out perfectly for the Flyers, it has also paid major dividends for a Kings’ team that also advanced to the second round of the playoffs after knocking off the defending Western conference champion Vancouver Canucks in five games. Both teams feel they have a legitimate shot at reaching the Stanley Cup finals, and what an incredible betting end that would be.

That deal that sent Richards to the Kings in the summer isn’t the big storyline of these playoffs. The players in that deal are all playing hard to prove that their team got the better side of the trade, but how about the team playing hard to avoid being relocated to another city altogether? The Phoenix Coyotes have opened their conference semi final series against the Nashville Predators with consecutive wins, and they are doing it in style with overtime dominating the headlines in the desert. There has been a ton of debate about whether the team will be moved next season, but the closer the Coyotes get to the Stanley Cup, the more unlikely that seems. The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in its first season after relocating from Quebec with many of the pieces that were already in place with the Nordiques, and it would be an absolute disaster if the same thing happened to the sports betting hockey fans in Phoenix.

Sports Betting Overview
The Washington Capitals have everything that the New York Rangers are looking for in a playoff opponent. The Capitals are using a rookie goalie in the playoffs, the Capitals have a rookie head coach and the Capitals have a superstar player who is under siege by his own fans. But regardless of how the Capitals’ faithful feel about Alex Ovechkin, the fans are impressed with the way the Capitals have played in the playoffs. While the Caps may have some holes in their armor, Washington was still able to knock out the defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rangers have its own set of problems to contend with in these playoffs. The online sportsbook experts were looking for some of that Ranger offense in the playoffs and, so far, the offense has been pretty quiet. If it wasn’t for the play of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers would be looking at golf courses right now instead of plane tickets to Washington. New York needs to step up its play in the second round if it wants to get past the Capitals.

Washington Capitals
The online betting sites are really not giving the Washington Capitals the credit it deserves. No matter who you are, it is not easy knocking the defending Stanley Cup champions out in the first round of the playoffs. The Capitals move from the second seed in the Eastern Conference in the first round, to the first seed in the Eastern Conference in the second round. Things are not getting any easier for the Capitals, and it will be interesting to see how the Washington rookies hold up.

Rookie goaltender Braden Holtby has secured himself the number one spot on the goal tending depth chart for next season. But rookie head coach Dale Hunter still has things to prove if he wants to be back as the Washington head coach next year. He can prove his point with a win over the Rangers in game four.

New York Rangers
The Rangers series with the Ottawa Senators was physical and littered with bad officiating. Aside from the usual dirty tactics that went unpunished from Chris Neil, it was the “kick in goal” by Neil in game six that really set the Rangers off. But the online sportsbook experts still give the Rangers the edge in this series, even though the Rangers only scored 14 goals in the seven game series with Ottawa.

The Capitals present a different kind of challenge for the Rangers while also offering opportunity. The Caps are getting goals from all over the roster, and that is hard to defend. If Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin suddenly start scoring, then the Rangers could be in trouble.

The Bottom Line
The Rangers have looked like the best team in hockey all season long. But the Vancouver Canucks showed everyone how little the regular season standings mean when the playoffs start. The Capitals are game, but not game enough to beat the Rangers.
Pick: New York Rangers

With the first round of the NHL Bodog Stanley Cup playoffs set to end tomorrow, bettors are looking for a trend to latch onto. As tends to be the case annually, the teams with the better defensive strategy will advance, while the teams that hope to play river hockey will ponder what they did wrong in the offseason. Tonight, one of the lowest scoring series in this year’s playoffs takes place, as the team with the best odds the Boston Bruins takes on underdog the Washington Capitals. Here is a look at the importance of defense.

Over the past few seasons, game seven’s of a playoff series have become rather lopsided. For example, after a variety of close checking one goal overtime bound games, the Phoenix Coyotes destroyed the Chicago Blackhawks four to nothing to clinch their first round series on Monday night. The series clinching win was an absolute shock to bookies and NHL scores followers, because every game to that point had gone under the total. At the same time, the importance of defense can’t be stressed enough in series clinching games, as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins over the weekend by a score of five to one. After giving up nearly 25 goals in four games, the Flyers went back to the tight checking game that got them into the playoffs, and were able to thwart the powerhouse Penguins.

Heading into tonight’s series deciding game between the Capitals and Bruins, the importance of defense should ultimately come down to who the better goalie is. The Capitals are led by third string top prospect Braden Holtby, who has averaged roughly 35 saves a game in one of the most tight checking series of the playoffs. At the same time, the Bruins are led by Tim Thomas, who managed to go a convincing four and zero in series clinching victories a season ago. Can Holtby continue his dream run in the playoffs, or will the veteran Thomas resurrect his 2011 Stanley Cup winning clinching streak?

Your NHL hockey blog has been busy as of late, and more seventh games will mean that they’ll be even busier. On Wednesday, the defending Stanley Cup champions from Boston host Washington in a series that was never supposed to get this far, and the Capitals go into this seventh game with nothing to lose.

Capitals Bruins Betting – Wednesday, 7:00 PM ET (confirm time in your sportsbook)

Tyler Seguin scored his first goal of the series at the right time as he netted just 3:17 in the overtime period of a 4-3 win in Washington, and a sports betting player’s review may state that the Bruins may have been a bit fortunate to stay alive as they were outshot 39-31, but Tim Thomas stopped 36 shots, including one of the best saves of the postseason so far. Rich Peverly, David Krejci and Andrew Ference also got on the scoresheet, but Thomas was the story and players that are familiar with price per head sports services know that a hot goalie can carry you a long way in the postseason. Thomas looked like the guy who won the Conn Smythe last season and that’s bad news for the Capitals.

Washington knows all about a hot goalie, but Braden Holtby didn’t have his best game with 27 saves on 31 shots, and the Capitals don’t usually win when the rookie doesn’t play well, which isn’t very fair on the young netminder. Mike Green, Jason Chimera and Alex Ovechkin all scored for the Capitals, who had plenty of opportunities to put the Bruins away and they may be kicking themselves if they end up losing this series, although the Capitals were put in a difficult position when their top two goalies were injured, leaving the job to Holtby.

Boston is a -191 favorite at home in this critical Game 7, and it’s win or go home for both teams. The Capitals have done well just to get here, but you always have to wonder what is going through Holtby’s mind right now as the rookie goalie goes into the biggest game of his life, and at the other end of the ice he sees a Conn Smythe and Vezina winner who guided his team to the Stanley Cup last year. That has to be daunting to the kid and that is why the Bruins have to get the edge in your sportsbook, especially at home. Also, the Capitals have never been known as a big-game team with their current core of players, and we’ve all seen what the Bruins can do when something is on the line; remember, they romped to the Cup in Game 7 in Vancouver last year. Take Boston in your sports betting online book.

The online betting crowd is adjusting its odds on who will win the Stanley Cup in 2012. When the season started, the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins was the odds-on favorite. As the season progressed, the betting world started to elevate the Pittsburgh Penguins to the level of playoff favorite. But as the playoffs wear on, the odds are shifting as the top teams have found themselves in trouble in their early playoff rounds. Click here to see updates on all of the new Stanley Cup odds. For now, let’s take a look at where some of the preseason favorites sit.

Pittsburgh Penguins (Odds on Winning Stanley Cup – 40 to 1)
Ah, how the mighty have fallen. The safest Stanley Cup futures bet in the NHL during the preseason was that the Pittsburgh Penguins would win it all without even breaking a sweat. When Sidney Crosby finally came back for good towards the end of the season, the Cup was all but a lock for the boys in black and gold. But as Crosby’s crew sits on the verge of being eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers, all of that talk has changed. The Penguins are down 3-1 in its series with Philadelphia and the Penguins are watching a serious goaltending problem drag them down. A sportsbook review of the Penguins now shows that the safe bet is that the Pens don’t make it to game six of its first round series.

Boston Bruins (Odds on Winning Stanley Cup – 13 to 2)
These odds are down a bit from where the Bruins were at in the preseason. The thing that is scaring people away from Boston is that the Bruins are getting matched evenly in a physical series with the Washington Capitals. If the Bruins cannot handle the Caps, then how is Boston expected to handle teams in the second round and Conference Finals? The Bruins have been up and down all season, and it picked the absolute wrong time to be down.

Vancouver Canucks (Odds on Winning Stanley Cup – 35 to 1)
When the Stanley Cup futures lines first came out in the preseason, the Canucks were another safe bet. But NHL fans in Vancouver are starting to realize that what they have is a regular season juggernaut and a playoff disappointment. Goaltender Roberto Luongo consistently plays his worst hockey in the playoffs, and the Canucks are getting beaten by a better goalie in Los Angeles netminder Jonathan Quick. This will probably be the point where the Vancouver Canucks stop becoming a solid Stanley Cup futures bet and start becoming an afterthought once the regular season is over.

Detroit Red Wings (Odds on Winning Stanley Cup – 35 to 1)
For the last few years, the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins have been safe preseason bets to be the two teams that meet for the Stanley Cup. But neither team has been able to get past the second round of the playoffs in two years. The Red Wings set the record for most consecutive home wins in a season with 23 this year, but then struggled down the stretch. This Detroit team lacks the consistency of previous teams and that is starting to show under the glaring lights of the Stanley Cup playoffs.