- The Western Conference Champion Colorado Avalanche will host the Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals.
- The Lightning are trying to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup.
- The series starts on Wednesday, June 15 at Denver’s Ball Arena with faceoff time set for 8:00 PM Eastern/6:00 PM Mountain.
The Stanley Cup finals get underway in beautiful Denver, Colorado on Wednesday night as the hometown Colorado Avalanche host the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avalanche had the best regular season record in the Western Conference and the second best in the entire league. Tampa Bay is trying to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup–something that hasn’t been accomplished since the great New York Islander teams of Mike Bossy and Brian Trottier in the early 1980s. The fact that the Avs have home ice advantage could end up being significant–Colorado had the best home record in the NHL this season going 32-5-4.
NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS SERIES ODDS
Colorado opened as a -190 or -200 favorite to win the Stanley Cup, but money has come for the underdog. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the Westgate SuperBook opened the series Colorado -200 but have taken mostly Tampa Bay money. The current line at the Westgate is Colorado -175/Tampa Bay +155. From a standpoint of ‘implied probability’ this is a move from 66.7% (-200) to 63.6% (-175). Takeback on Tampa bay goes from 37%(+170) to 39.2% (+155). In my view, Colorado is the better team and I think they’ll win the series but clearly the series line value is on Tampa Bay.
Not every sportsbook has seen such a significant move on Tampa. Circa Sports is dealing Colorado -189/Tampa Bay +163. Both Circa and the SuperBook serve Colorado, so this price isn’t due to home town support for the Avs. BetRivers has it at Colorado -195/Tampa Bay +165, Betfred Sports has Colorado -190/Tampa Bay +160 with PointsBet dealing Colorado -180/Tampa Bay +150. Offshore, BetOnline.ag has the same price as the Superbook with Colorado -175/Tampa Bay +155.
NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS GAME 1 MONEYLINE
Colorado opened a -170 favorite in Game 1 with takeback on the Lightning +150. There’s been some movement toward Tampa but in most cases it’s a narrow range. In Southern Nevada, most Las Vegas books have Colorado -160 with the exception of Circa (-156) and WynnBet (-165). A similar range is found at the Colorado sportsbooks with moneyline odds ranging from a low of Colorado -155 (DraftKings) to a high of -165 (PointsBet). BetOnline.ag has the Game 1 moneyline at Colorado -156/+141.
NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS GAME 1 TOTAL
The total for Game 1 is at 6 across the board with the OV at -115 or -120.
NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS GAME 1 PUCKLINE
The puckline is in a range from Tampa Bay +1.5 -190 to -205. Colorado is showing -1.5 +170 or +180 at most books.
