While Super Bowl betting odds are the focus of this week’s attention, the NHL will be back in action on Tuesday. But on Wednesday, there is a trio of matchups coming out of the Western Conference, and here is a look at a few trends to check out before heading to your sportsbook.

Kings Oilers Betting – Wednesday, 9:30 PM ET

The Kings should be favored on the road against the Oilers in this matchup of young teams, as Los Angeles is 4-1 SU in their last five trips to Edmonton. The last four meetings have gone under the posted total, and the Kings are 2-3 SU in the second half of back-to-back games. This is relevant as the Kings play Tuesday night in Minnesota.

Canucks Coyotes Betting – Wednesday, 9:30 PM ET

The Canucks also play on Tuesday night in Dallas, and they’re 2-3 SU in the second half of back-to-back games. The Coyotes are 4-1 SU in their last five against the Canucks at home, with three of those games going over the posted total. Phoenix also plays on Tuesday night, and they’re 6-6 SU in the second half of back-to-backs.

Sharks Ducks Betting – Wednesday, 10:00 PM ET

The Ducks should be favored at home as they have the night off on Tuesday, while the Sharks will be in Phoenix, and San Jose is 3-4 SU in the second half of back-to-back games. The Ducks are 3-2 SU in their last five at home against the Sharks, with three of those games going under the total, so the under is worth a bet in your sportsbook.

While most will be doing NCAA football betting on the championship games, there is a trio of NHL betting matchups on Saturday that are worth a look in your online sportsbook. Here are a few trends to keep an eye on.

Sharks Canadiens Betting – Saturday, 2:00 PM ET

The Canadiens are one of the best home teams in the league, and they should be favored in Montreal, where the Sharks are 2-3 in their last five trips.Three of the five meetings have gone under the posted total, and this could go the same way as both starting goalies in the top five in terms of goals against.

Bruins Maple Leafs Betting – Saturday, 7:00 PM ET

The Bruins should be favored in Toronto, who are helping the Bruins put together a nice team by giving them high picks for Phil Kessel. The Bruins are 3-2 in their last five trips to Toronto, and three of their last five meetings have been decided by a goal. Three of the five have also gone over the posted total.

Red Wings Kings Betting – Saturday, 10:30 PM ET

In the marquee matchup of the night, the Kings should be slight favorites at home, but they’re 1-4 in their last five home meetings with the experienced Red Wings, who don’t get flustered by going on the road. Three of the games have gone under the posted total, so be careful to check the total in your online sportsbook.

What up, sportsbook hockey bettors. The last time we spoke, it was regarding the Jonathan Toews hit. What’s happened since then? Well, Toews still hasn’t played (though he hopes to suit up tonight) and we’ve seen half a dozen more NHLers fall to concussions, not to mention an OHLer go into intensive care.

To me, the scariest hits of the ones we’ve seen recently aren’t the fluky (Iginla on Souray, who happened to fall just as he was getting hit) or the dirty (the Mike Richards on David Booth hit, perhaps?). It’s the clean ones. Starting with Toews, were’s seeing guys get concussed — KO’d — with clean, crisp hits. I still wonder if the vicious OHL hit was even dirty, as the perpetrator was forechecking a defenseman who had the puck and was facing him.

The truth is that the NHL betting landscape is changing because the game is so fast — Autobahn fast. The obstruction rules are gone and the guys are just flying out there — so much that collisions are more devastating than ever before. Defensemen can’t pick guys or grab sweaters or do anything to slow anyone down. The result is a more exciting and finesse-oriented game — but also a more dangerous one.

Damien Cox in the Toronto Star today had an interesting idea. If we can’t do anything to stop clean but hard hits, we can find other ways to protect guys from brutal hits — like removing the puckhandling anti-goalie trapezoid. If goalies could play the puck in the corner, defenseman wouldn’t get crushed as often in races for the puck.

NFL betting fans know what it’s like to have their league institute rules to protect the vulnerable (like punters and quarterbacks who get hit while performing their tasks). Maybe it’s time for hockey to undergo similar changes.

If nothing changes, expect hockey odds to fluctuate throughout the year as one big star after another goes down to a head shot.

If you bet at a sportsbook, you know there’s nothing wrong with stealing ideas. You overhear a guy make a compelling argument as to why the Lions will be the Redskins in NFL betting, you place a wager. No harm, no foul. Well, I’ve taken it upon myself to steal another idea — “Guys I like” and “Guys I don’t like” for the upcoming NHL season.

If you’re the type of bettor who factors individual performances into your hockey odds betting, remember these names as potential contributors to your success this season.

Anaheim’s top line — Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry. My pick to be the NHL’s most dominant first line this season.

Blake Wheeler — For all the hype Milan Lucic gets in Boston, Wheeler has fantastic hands and agility for his size. Maybe he’s the next Cam Neely.

Derick Brassard — He really looked like he belonged as Rick Nash’s centerman last year. This season, he’ll have better injury luck and help take Nash to new heights.

Valtteri Filppula – Somebody has to eat up all those power-play minutes and ice time with Datsyuk and Franzen in Detroit after Hossa and Hudler blew town.

Drew Doughty — I think he can make the leap into true offensive relevance as a sophomore.

Claude Giroux — Could see first-line duties with Simon Gagne good for an injury every year.

Chris Kunitz — A heady, well-rounded player who can be a defensive conscience on Crosby’s line.

Mikael Samuelsson — Only a matter of time before Vancouver puts him with the Sedins.

There you have it — some guys to think about. There aren’t the only guys I like — Jonathan Toews and Alexander Ovechkin are clearly good at hockey — but just some names you may be forgetting who could surprise this season. Remember that when you do your betting management.

Well, anyone who bet on sports has to be smiling right now. The Pens and Wings treated us to one of the best Cup Finals in recent memory and the Pens shocked the sportsbook universe with their come-from-behind victory. It was a series of unsung heroes — Maxime Talbot, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy proved that — but I want to give special props to a man unsung even among the unsung, if that makes sense: Brooks Orpik.

The beefy Pens blueliner was a MAN in Game 7, dishing out nine hits and blocking five shots. Huge! Better yet, he showed amazing discipline throughout the playoffs. He’s a rare player in that he can be physical without getting reckless and taking too many bad penalties. I’m betting management in Pittsburgh is pretty happy it signed him to a six-year deal at the end of 2008.

I hope you enjoyed sports wagering on hockey this season, my friends! Don’t worry — I’m not leaving. There will be plenty to talk about throughout this offseason…

I’ll leave you with the immortalized image of “the save” — one that should become iconic among those who wager online for years to come.

Well, after that nice lead-in, I can’t find the picture. So how about Penguins drunk instead!?

With all the sportsbook attention devoted to the dwindling Dodgers odds (hint, hint, baseball betting lines followers) and basketball betting, we need to nurture each series in NHL betting with some — you guessed it — playoff musings. Let’s get to it.

- Well, this blog joined the many sport betting online fans who challenged Evgeni Malkin to step up in the Penguins vs Capitals odds…and he did it. With his crazy parents jumping up and down, he was far-and-away the best player on the ice last night, firing about 4.598 shots on sensational Simeon Varlamov and finally scoring a goal. He was the man for sure — but he isn’t out of the woods yet. It’s relatively easy for a slumping superstar to get amped up with 18,000-plus people cheering for him to succeed. How will he respond Saturday when the hockey betting series shfits back to Washington?

- I have to admit, I didn’t expect Eric Staal to be winning the battle with Zdeno Chara in the Hurricanes vs Bruins odds. Hmm. Maybe there’s a chink in Boston’s armor after all — an over-reliance on the big feller? I haven’t noticed Dennis Wideman all playoffs, so you have to wonder if it’s time for the Bruins to pursue another 30-minutes-per-night defender. If I’m Peter Chiarelli I start shopping Patrice Bergeron in the offseason.

- The Wings are gonna be fine. We mortal sportsbook bettors are in a huff over the disallowed goal from Game 3, but these guys are Stanley Cup odds champs. They’ll be over it the moment the pucks drops on Game 4.

- If I’m wrong and the Red Wings odds somehow flop, what does it mean for the Canucks’ Stanley Cup odds if Detroit bows out? I still think there’s plenty of work left to do against Chicago, but some sportsbook oddsmakers could push the Canucks to the top of the heap if the Wings lose.

Events like the Kentucky Derby odds and the Pacquiao vs Hatton boxing odds are about to take center stage in the sports betting world, so we hockey betting fans may as well retreat into the shadows and muse away on what’s becoming an interesting first round.

- Maxime Talbot’s courageous battle against heavyweight Daniel Carcillo in Game 6 Saturday raised an interesting online wagering debate between me and my pals. Some of my friends think the “fighting when you’re team is down to create a spark” theory is overrated, but who can ignore the fact that the Penguins rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win after that fight? And Talbot is reportedly a very popular guy in the dressing room.

- Did I miss something in the John Tortorella/Capitals fan brawl during Game 5 of the Rangers vs Capitals odds? Didn’t the guy dump a beer on Torts? And he gets suspended for retaliating? Nice job, NHL — you just told fans “go ahead and dump beer on coaches. They’ll get suspended.” See the incident for yourself:

- Love him or hate him, Pierre Maguire really knows what he’s talking about.

- As tough as the Flames vs Blackhawks odds have been, neither team has showed a ton of mental toughness so far; it’s been a “hit at home, wilt on the road” series for both teams, so Calgary should be a no-brainer sportsbook pick to win Game 7. Unless one of these squads shows an ability to win away from its own rink, the winner of this series could be ousted quickly in round two of the Stanley Cup odds.

I’m not saying the Kentucky Derby odds are tempting me or anything, but it is a light Friday in NHL playoff betting compared to what we’ve gotten used to, no? Just the Rangers vs Capitals odds on the sked tonight. The two “humans” pictured above are amped up, but what do we do with no late game tonight? Why not take today, which is a lovely Friday, and call it a distraction day? I don’t know about you, but I could really go for a video of bad things happening to news reporters.

This is a classic but a doozie, online betting fans. Kick back and enjoy something you can’t find when you’re at the sportsbook making basketball betting picks or hockey picks or whatever you do. This just just good, trashy fun.

I’m exhausted. Is it the March Madness betting hoop-la? Maybe. Whatever it is, my eyes are about to fall out from computer screen overload, and I’m having trouble writing about NHL betting today. If in doubt, you take a day to wake yourself up and enjoy a nice video montage. And I think we’ve all earned a nice treat. How about some Pavel Bure?

I miss the days when he ruled the sportsbook and made us online betting fans giggle with glee (well, me at least) every time he went end to end. Let’s enjoy some highlights of one of the greatest “cut-short” NHL careers ever: