The NHL Western Conference Finals are moving to Alberta for Game 3 as the Edmonton Oilers look to stay in contention against the Colorado Avalanche. Trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, the Oilers get this close to a must-win game without technically being an elimination game.
To date, 200 teams have trailed 3-0 in a seven-game series in NHL playoff history. Nine of the 200 forced a Game 7, and only four teams have gone all the way to win the series.
If Edmonton wants to stay in this series and continue their quest for a Stanley Cup championship, they’d better win tonight to keep this thing from getting out of hand. Let’s select a few bets with odds from BetMGM.
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Oilers vs. Avalanche Game 3 Picks (8:00 p.m. ET, TNT)
Under 7.0 goals (-125)
After an adrenaline-pumping Game 1 of this series, which saw a whopping 14 combined goals and goaltender changes by both sides, Game 2 looked dramatically different. The Avs looked like the Avs again and completely dominated their opponent. Pavel Francouz, occupying the whistle for an injured or scratched Darcy Kuemper, stopped all 24 shots en route to the 4-0 win.
Cale Makar continues to stand out as an elite defender and is part of the response Colorado has shown to Edmonton’s powerful offensive attack. Somewhat surprisingly, Edmonton returned to separating Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Game 2 and appears poised to do so again tonight.
The lack of depth for Edmonton compared to Colorado’s incredible depth was a key issue that went into this series. If Francouz can have another good game on the net, I want the total to stay under seven.
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Colorado Avalanche -1.5 (+170)
There’s an “avalanche” pun here somewhere, but I’ll let it slide.
Those odds are way, way too good not to play for a side that has now won the first two games of this series by two and four goals respectively. Edmonton seeks answers as it shakes up her lines, but I don’t see it happening.
Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar, Nazem Kardi, Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkohnen and Gabriel Landeskog all have over three points in two games. They can attack their opponents with so much speed and in waves, and even when the Oilers tried to play a slower, more physical style in Game 2, the Avs still won 4-0.
Getting a +170 odd for the better team to win by two goals doesn’t get much better. Even if the Oilers have a close game late, an empty net near the end of regulation could redeem that bet.