With the playoffs getting underway this week it’s the Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings atop the odds to win the conferences at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Capitals, coming off a Presidents’ Trophy victory, are the +150 favourites on the odds to win the Eastern Conference as they prepare to take on the Philadelphia Flyers in Round 1. Philadelphia, which slipped into the playoffs as the second wild-card team in the East, is back at +1400.
Washington and Philadelphia split four meetings during the regular season according to the OddsShark NHL Database.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games and the +450 second-favourite on the odds to win the Eastern Conference, with the New York Rangers on tap as their first-round opponent this week. The Rangers are at +700 on the futures list at the sportsbooks, and they lost three of their four games against the Penguins during the regular season.
The Florida Panthers are at +800 on the Eastern odds, with the Tampa Bay Lightning at +900, the New York Islanders at +1000, and the Detroit Red Wings at +1400. The Panthers face the Islanders in the First round, having won two of their three matchups this season. The Lightning take on the Red Wings, with those two teams splitting their four meetings.
Over in the Western Conference the Kings are the +400 betting favourites despite the fact they slipped to second in the Pacific Division standings on the final weekend of the season. That has the Kings taking on the San Jose Sharks in their first-round matchup, with San Jose at +800 win the West. The Sharks won three of five meetings with the Kings this season.
The Anaheim Ducks beat the Capitals on Sunday to claim first place in the Pacific Division and set up a first-round series with the Nashville Predators. Anaheim and Nashville met three times during the regular season with the Preds winning twice; the Ducks are at +450 to win the West on the betting futures, with the Predators at +1200.
Joining the Ducks at +450 are both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Stars, with Chicago taking on the St. Louis Blues (+500) and Dallas meeting the Minnesota Wild (+1400) in the First round. The Blues actually won three of their five games against the Blackhawks during the regular season, while the Stars dominated the Wild with four wins in five games.
Overall, the Capitals are also the +400 favourite on the odds to win the Stanley Cup at the sportsbooks heading into the post-season, followed by the Kings at +700, the Blackhawks at +750, and the Ducks and Stars at +800. The Flyers and Red Wings are +3300 long-shots.
