Round 2 Puck Talk

Good Morning Gentlemen and Jules 

Putting a bow on Round 1 and what a round it was. Can't decide what was the biggest story of Round 1, Boston losing, Toronto winning or the fact that road teams went 31-19 in that round. A wise man once said, "home ice in hockey doesn't mean a thing". Glad I avoided last night, would have lost again. That is the second game in that series that I saw an uninspired Rangers team. Is there a problem in the locker room? Someone put Igor's agent in touch with Pens new GM please. After Rangers getting 3 PP's in the 1P and not putting one in the net, spelled doom. On the other hand, give the Devil his due. 

Onto Round 2:

Florida vs Toronto: 

So, they played 4 times this year and Leafs were 3-0-1. Florida's only win was in Toronto.  There were 2 overs (first two meetings) and 2 unders AND 2 games went to OT. In those 4 meetings, the Leafs scored 3.75 GF/GM while the Panthers 2.50 GF/GM. Interesting, that the Florida PP (25%) was better than the Leafs PP (18.8%) in the series. In Round 1, Florida scored 3.7 GF/GM vs Leafs 3.8 GF/GM and Florida 3.9 GA/GM vs Leafs 3.5 GA/GM. Is this setting up to be an OVER type series? Both teams had big round 1 series, any let downs? I "think" I know who the better team is but I don't want to assume. Should be another "entertaining" series. 

Seattle vs Dallas

Funny, these two teams played 3 times this year and they were all in the month of March. Dallas won both games in Seattle and Seattle won the only game in Dallas. All 3 games went over the total. Seattle scored 10 goals while Dallas scored 13 goals. The big stat that stands out to me again is Dallas PK is 83.5% vs Seattle at 76.7%. If you watched the first round, Dallas's PP was clicking, so Seattle better stay out of the box. In Round 1, Dallas avg 3.5 GF/GM vs Seattle 2.6 GF/GM and the Stars gave up fewer goals 2.3 vs 2.6. My personal thoughts. Dallas is my pick to come out of the West for one simple reason. Otter. I think he is the best goalied remaining in the playoffs. I also think Grubauer will have a decline in his numbers. Although all 3 regular season games went over the total, I don't see that type of series. 

Lots of blanks to fill in for Round 2. So what do you want to talk about? 

Florida has 32 minor penalties in Round 1 . Leafs licking their chops on that stat. 

Definitely great hockey and impressive stats and things to ponder!!! Thanks for your insight and enjoy!!! And GL with some winning picks!!!

Since 2000 first round teams who won game 7 on the road are 9-4 in the next series

@GASportsDoc

 Any word on if McCann will be back for Seattle? I think that’s the determining factor for me in game 1. If he is out, Dallas wins game 1 no question. If he’s in, I kind of like Seattle to steal game 1 riding that high from knocking off the Avs. I mean they beat the Avs without him. 

@CaseyCo

 Haven't found anything yet...

Here's another stat just heard.  The final 8 teams played each other 15 times,  (4 Leafs/Cats, 4 Canes/Devils, 4 Vegas/Oil and 3 Stars/Kraken). Out of those 15 games,  8 went to OT! Regulation bettors beware

@GASportsDoc

 Man that’s a crazy stat. I finally saw McCann didn’t travel with the team so he’s out for sure. Given that OT frequency no wonder Seattle +1.5 is at -165. 

Does the split start tonight? Panthers and Kraken?

@gooch72

 Yes. It begins again tonight. See the tagged thread at the top of the forum for comment there. 

NOT official, but Lyon was the first off the ice today in Toronto 

According to my own holy grail, any team entering a contest (any sport) on an emotional high (lower seeded teams beating top tier teams) is due a letdown spot in their next game. I gotta take Toronto in regulation moneyline 

GL

Honoring the Man...  Both Dogs tonight...

99% sure I'm locking in panthers for the split tonight....thinking they steal 1 of the 2 ...just gonna check few more things

Devils/canes should be tight games.....canes offense is depleted by injury

Already on sea/dal under 5.0 regulation only...figure we get a bit of a feel out jn the 1st period and a nervous/tight game 1 overall

Vgl/edm should be really good....gotta go with edmonton

Your evening fade material. Following Moose's advice but costly. 

Dallas ML -170 (took it this morning)

Just going to enjoy the Florida/Toronto game, but Florida's tt has shot up in the past hour like crazy. 

SERIES PICKS

FLORIDA

NEW JERSEY 

DALLAS

EDMONTON

Good Morning Gentlemen and Jules 

This sums up my playoffs

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La de da de de, la de da de da

Saw some Leafs physicality but it didn't help. Florida continues to bring it and Bob getting hot? If you are a prop bettor and has taken Montour the past several games, you are money. It appears this series will be wide open and looking forward it. Went to bed, Dallas up 1-0 and awoke to a 5-4 OT Sea Monsters winner. THREE goals in 52 seconds? WOW. Pavleski? Was he the only one for the Stars showing up? Both DOGS and both road teams win again. This is crazy. Can I just say, Lippsman Split. Onto tonight. 

Devils/Canes: Both teams won 2 of 4 games this year. Canes won the first 2 and Devils won the last 2. In 4 games, 2 went under and 2 went over. During the season series, Canes avg. 3.0 GF/GM while the Devils 3.2 GF/GM. This will be a battle of strengths. Devils best breakaway team vs Canes best defensive breakaway team. While we talk about the Canes D, let's not overlook the Devils D. They do rank 8th in the league with GA, 5th in shots allowed and 4th in PK. My question, just like in Canes round 1 series is can the Canes produce enough offense? 

Oil/Knights: Oilers won 3 of the 4 meetings this year. All 4 games went OVER with 7, 7, 7, and 11 goals scored. The Oil avg 4.2 GF/GM while Vegas 3.2 GF/GM. The Oil PP clicked at 45.3% in the series. In round 1, the Oil avg. 4.1 GF/GM vs Knights 3.60 GF/GM. The Oil did allow 3.33 GA/GM in round 1. Can the Knights stop the potent Oil PP? Vegas did rank #1 in the league in PM/GM with 7.2 but when they did go to the box, their PK was not great, ranked 19th at 77.4%. One thing to keep an eye on, Mark Stone left practice yesterday and by what I am hearing, didn't look good doing it. 

Do we see the DOGS and road team W's continue? Hell, I honestly don't have the answer to that at all. The only thing I am considering is the Under in Raleigh. 

Fill in the blanks. What do you want to talk about. 

@Moose6836

Shreveport will see you in the Robertson Cup Championship. #GeauxBugs

Technically the dogs tonight don't fit the Split, but I am playing them anyway.  I like teams coming off the big Game 7 win over a team that has been in the Locker Room for 4+ days.  And the Oil beat a really good LA Kings team.  Vegas beat a listless, shit-bag Winnipeg team, who without Hellybuyck would have been golfing 3 weeks ago, instead of last week.

And I got to say I think Devils Series bet is probably a good investment.  Eventually the injuries are going to catch up to my Canes.  When you lose your top RW and LW, it is hard to overcome that the deeper we go into the playoffs.  And not ever having Pacorietty just sucks.  He (and Stastny) were the veteran playoff presence they lacked last year, and that will eventually take them down.  It sucks, b/c with that full roster, they would be in the cup this year, as they are the most complete team, esp. on the Defensive side.

Rant over.

@dyamarik

 Man you typed up my exact thoughts on both series....wild

Toronto was really good last night, Bobrovsky was just better.... what a game by him. Toronto PP looked great, but best PK is always the goalie and that was proven big time. Even with the loss, Toronto has to feel good about their game. Thought they were significantly better overall, could have easily scored 8 goals and that's not even an exaggeration. Think the Leafs win in 5 or 6 still even down 0-1 in the series, BOB is going to have to be that good every night for the Panthers to win this series. He's proven it before but we'll see.

Dallas / Seattle is going to be a fun series. I think overs at plus money are sneaky great until bookmakers move this to 6+. Dallas isn't the same sit back, block shots & hope to win 3-1 or 3-2 games anymore. Seattle has a very deep forward group, an awesome forecheck. Both teams roll 3-4 lines that can score and also some offensive minded d-men. 

Edmonton/Vegas is going to be a very good series. I do think Vegas getting healthy at the right time is flying a lot under the radar. They had zero issues with Winnipeg and Hellebuyck. Leon and McDavid are great, but Vegas is a tough matchup as their style can certainly take away speed and skill. Haven't really liked the Knights all year but now I know why, they just weren't close to full strength most of the season. The Oilers toughened up some, Ekholm is a sneaky good add for them. I expect this will be a tight series and end of the day I think Skinner will be the liability. 

Carolina/NJ I don't have high hopes for this series at all. Not overly impressed with either team, no idea where the goalie for NJ came from but without that kid stepping up they probably lose to NYR in 5. Hughes is fun to watch, but idk can't really get on board with NJ, I didn't think it was possible to not have interest in a game 7 in the NHL but the NYR/NJ managed to put together a brutal game outside of Troubas monster hit. That hit is pretty much why I have no faith in NJ.... Meier gets absolutely destroyed on a clean open ice hit and not a soul from NJ stepped up to Trouba. On the other side, Carolina is a better more experienced group but they have serious issues scoring goals. I'm hoping this series surprises me but hopefully we can find a way to eliminate both of these teams in one series! 

@GASportsDoc

 Sonny and Cher 

2-0 jrs