Stanley Cup Odds Update – 06/27/21
by OddsShark (@OddsShark) – Sponsored Post
After surviving their Game 7 matchup with the New York Islanders on Friday night by the slimmest of margins the Tampa Bay Lightning will get a chance to repeat as Stanley Cup champions as they take on the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL’s championship series as clear betting favorites on the NHL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The Lightning beat the Islanders 1-0 in their Game 7 meeting at Amalie Arena on Friday night, with Yanni Gourde providing the game-winning goal shorthanded in the second period and Andrei Vasilevskiy making 18 saves for his fourth shutout of this year’s postseason.
And Tampa Bay will now enter Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at home on Monday night as both betting favorites for the opener and for the entire series at sportsbooks – the Lightning have been listed as -240 betting favorites on the series prices (how the moneyline works).
That leaves Montreal as the +200 underdog on the series prices, as they look to continue the Cinderella run that has put them in position to vie for the 25th Stanley Cup in team history.
Montreal began the playoffs as underdogs in their first-round series with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, but rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to take that series in seven games. The Canadiens then swept the Winnipeg Jets in the second round before getting past the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the third round to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
Like the Lightning, the Canadiens have received stellar goaltending throughout the postseason as Carey Price has posted a 12-5 record with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. Vasilevskiy is 12-6 with a 1.99 GAA and a .936 SV PCT in the playoffs, with Tampa Bay getting past the Florida Panthers in six games in the first round and then the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the second round before knocking out the Islanders.
That has Vasilevskiy (+125) and Price (+175) as the favorites on the Conn Smythe Trophy odds heading into the Stanley Cup Final, with Lightning forwards Nikita Kucherov (+250) and Brayden Point (+275) the only other serious contenders for the award. Kucherov leads the playoff scoring race by a wide margin with 27 points, while Point has 14 goals in 18 games.
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