First period goals are flying in playoffs
The first week of the NHL playoffs is in the books. Four series are tied at two games a piece. On Monday night, the New York Rangers, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers will look to even their series up as well. Colorado is having its way with Nashville, but that’s an outlier series in a first round that has proven just how much parity exists in the league.
In a league that might have seven of eight series tied at two games a piece by the end of the night, betting the playoffs on a game-by-game basis has been unpredictable. Ten of the sixteen playoff teams have already lost a game by at least four goals. However, there has been one betting trend taking these playoffs by storm and it might be a market that you’ve overlooked.
Overs are hitting at high rate
Through the first 28 games of the NHL playoffs, 17 games have gone over the total, 10 have gone under and one has pushed. While many associate playoff hockey with gritty and defensive play, that hasn’t really been the case through the first week.
There’s many reasons for this. First off, the league had its highest scoring season since 1996 this past season. That has carried over into the playoffs. Teams are also getting more power play opportunities per game. Pittsburgh, Boston, Carolina, Washington, Nashville and St. Louis have all started multiple goalies in the playoffs. It looks like Colorado might join that list on Monday due to Darcy Kuemper’s scary eye injury.
While scoring overall is at an extreme high right now, the scoring has started early in games and that’s the angle that has paid off handsomely for bettors throughout these playoffs, especially over the last few days.
First period bets
Through the first 28 games of these playoffs, 57 goals have been scored in the first period of games. That’s an average of over two goals per first period, which is important because the first period over/under for almost every game is set at 1.5 goals.
So far in these playoffs, 21 of 28 first periods have…
Source : yahoo
