NHL Finals Game 1 Preview & Free Pick
This year’s Stanley Cup Finals get underway on Monday night. Game 1 of a best-of-seven matchup between the St. Louis Blues, out of the Western Conference, and the East’s Boston Bruins should be a good one. Game time in Boston on NBC is set for 8 p.m. with the Bruins -150 favorites and the total line set at 5.5 goals with BetAnySports.
The Blues went 12-7 during their run to the championship series. After eliminating Winnipeg in six games as underdogs, they needed the full seven games to get past Dallas in the next round as favorites. After falling behind two games to one in the conference finals against San Jose, St. Louis won the next three games by a combined score of 12-2 to win the West. The Blues were 7-2 in nine road games with the total going OVER or ending as a PUSH in six road games.
Led by left winger Jaden Schwartz with 12 goals and four assists, the Blues average three goals a game in those three series. Center Ryan O’Reilly and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo were the team leaders in assists with 11 apiece. The Blues had seven different players posting at least 10 points in 19 playoff games. Jordon Binnington anchored the defensive effort in goal with a 2.36 goals-against average. He started every playoff game.
Bruins are Well Rested
Boston had its hands full with Atlantic Division rival Toronto in a 4-3 series win in the opening round. The Bruins needed six games to close out Columbus in their next matchup before really ramping things up with a four-game sweep over Carolina in the conference finals. Boston won the East title in impressive fashion by outscoring the Hurricanes a combined 17-5 in those four games.
This is another team that boasted a deep scoring lineup in the postseason. Center Patrice Bergeron scored a team-high eight goals with left wingers’ Brad Marchand and David Pastmak adding seven goals apiece. Those two players also combined for 19 assists. Boston was able to average 3.4 goals a game in their 17 postseason outings. A big reason for the run all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals was goalie Tuukka Rask He started every game in goal and posted an impressive 1.84 GGA and a .942 save percentage.
This series could easily go the full seven games given each team’s current form, but I am betting on Boston this Monday night at BetAnySports to take the early 1-0 series lead
Stanley Cup Finals Betting Odds & Trends
| St. Louis Blues |
|---|
| St. Louis is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games |
| The total has gone OVER in 4 of St. Louis’s last 6 games |
| St. Louis is 7-2 ATS in its last 9 games on the road |
| St. Louis is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games on the road |
| The total has gone OVER in 4 of St. Louis’s last 6 games on the road |
| St. Louis is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Boston |
| St. Louis is 16-8 SU in its last 24 games when playing Boston |
| St. Louis is 8-3 SU in its last 11 games when playing on the road against Boston |
| Boston Bruins |
|---|
| Boston is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games |
| Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games |
| The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Boston’s last 10 games |
| Boston is 5-12 ATS in its last 17 games at home |
| Boston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home |
| The total has gone OVER in 4 of Boston’s last 6 games at home |
| Boston is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing St. Louis |
| Boston is 8-16 SU in its last 24 games when playing St. Louis |
| Boston is 4-10-2 SU in its last 16 games when playing at home against St. Louis |
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