Four different Game 5’s go down on Tuesday — and each one will break a 2-2 series tie. Yep, this is why we love the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs! You’ll want to read this article all the way through to get our four best NHL bets for May 10’s playoff slate, all of which is yours for free!
Moneyline: Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes
The home team has won each game up to this point. The top NHL betting sites, perhaps recognizing that trend, have earmarked the home-ice Canes as favorites. Here are the current Boston-Carolina moneyline odds:
The Bruins’ Game 4 win was as gutsy as they come. Not only did they topple the Hurricanes convincingly 5-2, but more impressively, they did so despite being down its two-best defenseman. Hampus Lindholm has been injured since Game 2, while Charlie McAvoy caught COVID-19. Neither are expected to be available on Tuesday, though there’s an outside chance Lindholm returns. We have trouble imagining Boston replicating that defensive performance in Game 5 — especially on the road.
Speaking of replicating performances, the Canes can’t allow the Bruins to have nine power plays again, right? We would think not. Boston totaled more than 12 minutes of power-play time in Game 4, which also feels like a regression to the mean is in store next time out. We’re taking Carolina to defend their home ice and go up 3-2.
Over/Under 6.5 Goals: St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild
We’re going to be completely honest with you: we have zero idea who is winning this game, hence why we’re latching onto the St. Louis-Minnesota spread instead. Seriously, the first four games have been absolute bonkers — with three games being decided by four goals and the other by three. It’s hard to find any betting trends besides whoever does win, they’ll likely cover the spread doing so.
However, upon closer look, we noticed both these teams have a knack for going over. Get this, in St. Louis’ last 15 games, the over has cashed 12 times (80 percent of the time). Not only that but the over has hit in five of the last six meetings between the Blues and Wild in Minnesota. This is enough sample size of games to believe this might be a sign of things to come — not a statistical anomaly.
So that sealed it for us, we’re smashing the over 6.5 goals scored between both. If you’re feeling extra risky, consider parlaying that with one of the spread picks — as we said, whoever wins seems to do so by at least three goals. Those are the prevailing trends in this series so far.
Moneyline: Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs
Tampa and Toronto is the closest moneyline game of the night at popular online sportsbooks. It’s almost a toss-up, however, the home-ice Leafs are getting the slightest of edges. Here’s where the odds stand going into Game 5:
Like the previous pick, this series hasn’t been overly competitive either despite being tied 2-2. In each matchup, the winning team entered the third period with, at least, a two-goal advantage. Likewise, the losing team has failed to score a first-period goal in all four games. One can see those two stats and presume one thing: start slow and you’re done for in this series.
Knowing that, maybe wait till the first goal is netted then throw a wad of money on the in-play odds on that team to close out the win. But if you must bet before the game, then we’d recommend Tampa. Amazingly, the Lightning has strung together 17 straight playoff wins directly after a loss — an NHL record. The Lightning just finds an extra gear when their back is against the wall, which warrants a wager from us here.
Against The Spread: Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers
We skipped a moneyline bet in favor of a spread wager in this Kings-Oilers matchup. That’s because Edmonton, who we strongly believe will win at home come Tuesday, is a staggering -200 favorite to win straight up. That offers very little betting value, therefore, we wanted to up the risk and just take the Oilers to cover 1.5 goals instead.
Edmonton was shockingly shut out in Game 4 — shocking because they tallied a whopping 17 goals in the first three matchups of the series. Chalk that up as a “bad game” because we think the Oilers will return to their usual high-scoring self in Game 5. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick was sensational in Game 4, but that’s not sustainable against an offense as deep and talented as Edmonton’s.
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