Stanley Cup Playoff Best Bets: Key Wins, Surprising Losses

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00:00live right here on the early line on sports grid tom vecchio here for a second consecutive segment

00:05the jack of all trades you might have noticed hey proper perspective where were those hockey

00:09picks for stanley cup playoff action from tv tom well we got him here today vecchio as we continue

00:16through this opening round a couple of results last night the kings now up 2-0 on the oilers

00:22trying to exact their playoff revenge of edmonton who has sent la bounced from the opening round

00:28in each of the last three seasons we have seen the washington capitals take a 2-0 series lead

00:34against the canadians and a slightly stunning upset not quite an upset but the dallas stars

00:40win in all the time for their second consecutive game over the colorado avalanche and now hold

00:46a 2-1 series lead vecchio of the results yesterday which one stands out to you the most

00:52stands out to me the most would be the abs losing at home you know they had a lot of juice coming

00:57into this game their captain gabriel landis god returned after a three-year absence he has been

01:02out since they won the stanley cup in 2022 due to an injury and he finally made his way back after

01:07three years of recovery they come out they score the first goal obviously game goes to overtime and

01:12the stars get it done obviously the stars are a very good team they struggle at the end of the season

01:16but i expect the ass to bounce back uh in game four uh they're still a very good team and their defense

01:21has been much much better than i anticipated yeah it's going to be a great series there the kings

01:27again hoping to have the last laugh over edmonton finally alexander ovechkin and the caps off to a

01:33great start thank you the team that maybe has looked the most impressive so far in the stanley cup

01:38playoffs the carolina hurricanes absolutely stomping all over the new jersey devils in their opening round

01:44playoff set and because of it the canes have started to see some separation in those stanley cup prices

01:50plus 440 for carolina now more than two dollars in front of our reigning cup champs in the florida

01:56panthers we'll talk about game two in the sunshine state in just a moment vecchio you've expressed

02:02some skepticism around carolina being this short in comparison of a stanley cup favorite have they

02:10earned the distinction in your mind to be those stanley cup favorites right now still no the answer is no

02:16and even if i didn't think that i still don't think that's a great price to be paying them at you

02:20know frederick anderson in net for the canes is still that big question mark for me and he's a

02:24goalie where if you if you only see 10 or 15 shots he'll probably look pretty good but if you see more

02:29and more shots the mistakes are going to come come through and he often has like this lapse you're

02:34like hey that was kind of a weird play why that happens like he's had these playoff inconsistencies

02:38inconsistencies before and with the devils so shorthanded they already don't have jack hughes they lost luke

02:44hughes they lost uh a handful of other players in the first two games they are now really really

02:49shorthanded so he's actually having a pretty easy go with things if he has to play the capitals

02:53if he has to play the leafs he has to play the panthers the lightning whoever might be in that

02:57conference final they are not going to do the same things that the devils are because the devils

03:01don't have that push on offense because they're missing some of their best players i still think

03:05there's value outside of the canes where would you go with that value then because the canes are

03:10kind of becoming shorter and shorter by the day the caps are still sitting there 10 to 1 and they're

03:16going to have home ice throughout so if they can get past the canes the canes number is just bad

03:20i think the caps are still the spot to go as i've said before i haven't taken on the on the lightning

03:25at 17 to 1 they're in a tough spot but i do still like where they are so we've got four games tonight

03:31on the ice one game two three game threes let's talk about the game two in the sunshine state between

03:38the reigning cup champs the florida panthers who stole game one in tampa earlier this week in the

03:43lightning looking for a bounce back do you expect just that vecchio a bolts bounce back tonight on

03:50home ice i absolutely do if there's any coach in the league you know a handful of them that will

03:55make adjustments on a game-to-game basis it's john cooper for the lightning obviously uh plenty of

04:00historic success from him but the team looked good at times in that game versus florida obviously the

04:05box score by them you know giving up six goals doesn't really imply that but they looked good

04:09you know their offense was moving jake gensil looked good obviously a proven playoff performer

04:13so game-to-game adjustments is this is where this will come down to a true chess match between two

04:18phenomenal head coaches i like tampa to bounce back this year he's going six or seven games

04:22so the other three games tonight already in game three which means a change of location

04:27to minnesota the wild and the golden knights tied at a game apiece the jets up 2-0 over st louis

04:34the leafs up 2-0 over the senators vecchio which of the other three game threes that we have most

04:40intrigues you it's got to be the senators at home their first playoff game in how was it seven eight

04:45years since they've had you know since they made the playoffs this has to be a first period of total

04:50goals under one and a half and minus one of four the senators cannot let the leafs get out ahead as

04:55we have seen and let them score then they have to play from behind that's just not the path to the

05:00senators winning the path the senators winning is winning 2-1 maybe the empty net goal to get them

05:043-1 but it has to be a low scoring game low scoring playoff affair tom vecchio always delivers

05:10on this thursday vecchio have a great rest of your day the early line returns tomorrow 8 a.m eastern

05:16on a friday on sports grid

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