After falling just short of lifting their second Stanley Cup in three years last June, the Boston Bruins enter the 2014 playoffs favoured to finish the job this season.
The Cup, which has probably never been lifted higher than it was by six-foot-nine Bruins captain Zdeno Chara at the end of the 2010-11 playoffs, was awarded to Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews last spring after Chicago defeated Boston in a hard-fought, six-game Stanley Cup final.
Nonetheless, Chara and the Bruins are listed as chalk at 7/2 odds to win the Stanley Cup at some online sportsbooks tracked by OddsShark.com.
A Boston vs St. Louis final – the first since 1970 when Bobby Orr scored the overtime winner in a play immortalized in the famous flying photo – is the top pick for bettors looking to predict the Cup final matchup.
Boston, which finished the NHL regular season with a league-leading 117 points on a record of 54-19-9, will face the wild-card Detroit Red Wings (39-28-15) in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series which begins Friday night in Boston.
The Bruins are the biggest favourite in first-round series prices posted Monday by several sportsbooks. The No. 1 vs No. 8 matchup in the West – Anaheim vs Dallas – is also one of the biggest chalk marks on the betting board.
The Red Wings, who battled injuries to key players all season long, are a value pick at 20/1 odds to win the Stanley Cup. Detroit last won the Cup in 2008 and lost the final to Pittsburgh in 2009.
The Penguins, led by Art Ross Trophy winner Sidney Crosby, are considered a strong Cup contender at short 7/1 odds. Pittsburgh (51-24-7) will hit the ice on Wednesday night against the other wild-card team to qualify from the East, the Columbus Blue Jackets who are 50/1 long shots.
While Boston and Pittsburgh are the heavy co-favourites to emerge from the Eastern Conference at 13/10 and 11/4 odds respectively on that chart, there are a handful of strong contenders for bettors to consider as potential champions from the Western Conference.
The St. Louis Blues (52-23-7) may have stumbled down the stretch, losing their final six regular-season games to finish second behind Colorado in the Central division, but oddsmakers nonetheless saw fit to open the Blues at 6/1 odds to win the Stanley Cup and at 5/2 to win the Western Conference.
The defending champions from Chicago, who also won the Cup back in 2010, are pegged right behind the Blues at 8/1 odds to make it a third championship in five years and at 15/4 to win the West, followed by the powerful trio of teams from California that wreaked havoc on the ice with their size and skill all season long.
Anaheim and San Jose are both listed at 9/1 odds to win the Cup, while Los Angeles — the 2012 Stanley Cup champions — opened a shade behind at 10/1 odds. The Sharks and Kings will square off beginning Thursday night in what promises to be a fiery Western Conference quarterfinal series, while the Blues and Blackhawks are also set to provide exciting first-round fireworks.
The upstarts from Colorado (52-22-8), who missed the playoffs entirely last season, are listed at 14/1 odds to win the Cup and will open up against the wild-card qualifiers and 40/1 Cup long shots from Minnesota, while the Ducks face the other wild-card team in the Dallas Stars (50/1 odds).
The other two series in the Eastern Conference will feature Olympic gold-medal winning goaltender Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens taking on Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning beginning Wednesday night in Florida.
Veteran puck stopper Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers duke it out with the Philadelphia Flyers starting Thursday, with the Blue Shirts owning an eight-game home win streak against their hated rivals.
All four teams are considered long shots though to challenge the Bruins and Penguins for Eastern Conference supremacy, with Montreal, New York and Philadelphia all opening up at 20/1 odds to win the Stanley Cup and Tampa Bay at 25/1.
