Ottawa Senators @ Pittsburgh Penguins – Friday (Pittsburgh leads 3-1)
At this pace, the Ottawa Senators will win the Stanley Cup in three seasons. Last season, the top sports betting sites watched as the Senators unexpectedly took the New York Rangers to seven games in the opening round of the playoffs. By the time the seventh game rolled around, the Senators have no answer for New York goalie HenrikLundqvist and they were eliminated. This season, the Senators took out the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens in the first round and now face elimination against the Penguins. At least the Senators keep showing progress.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were chosen by many of the sportsbook agents to win the Stanley Cup in this shortened season. The team has seen a goaltending change and watched its captain have to recover from a broken jaw, but it just keeps pressing forward. With the addition of players such as goaltender Tomas Vokoun and veteran forward JaromeIginla, the Penguins are much better prepared to handle adversity and injury this season. At this point, the Penguins would have to remain as the odds-in favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season.
Ottawa Senators
The sports betting online experts would like to see more consistency out of the Ottawa Senators’ goaltender Craig Anderson. Anderson can be a brick wall one night and then a piece of Swiss cheese the next. In game four, Anderson allowed seven goals. While a couple of those goals were not really his fault, he still played a marginal game at best against a team determined to capitalize on its Stanley Cup ambitions. The Senators are also going to need to start bringing in some more younger forwards that can add speed to the forward lines for this team. They can still build a champion in Ottawa, but changes will need to be made.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The online sports betting sites are finding it hard to change their minds when it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins and this season’s Stanley Cup championship. The collapse of teams like the Kings and Blackhawks just makes it that much easier to get on the Pittsburgh bandwagon. The Penguins will need to get past the Senators before there can be dreams of a Stanley Cup dancing through everyone’s heads, but that is a lingering piece of business that the Penguins will take care of in game five.
The Bottom Line
The one thing that the Penguins will have to worry about is getting out of this game without any key injuries, because the Senators will be headhunting. The Pens were able to find room to skate in game four and Pittsburgh will look for more room in game five. As long as Pittsburgh can avoid trying to physically go toe to toe with Ottawa, then this game should be a slam dunk for Pittsburgh.
Read more about the Pittsburgh Penguins and their Stanley Cup aspirations.
Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins
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