It is down to the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Stanley Cup this season in the NHL. The Finals, which is a best of seven series as all of the play off rounds in the postseason are, opened in Pittsburgh on May 29 and it was the Penguins who took the home win in a game which really swung back and forth. Despite the loss, the Predators will still be feeling confident about going forward and competing, especially when the series swings in their home favour. This is the first ever Stanley Cup Final for the Predators, while Pittsburgh are the defending champions having beaten the San Jose Sharks last season 4-2.
Stanley Cup Finals Betting 2017 Winner Odds
Pittsburgh Penguins 5/13, Nashville Predators 9/4
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Stanley Cup Finals Betting 2017 Preview
Game Two: May 31st, Pittsburgh
Game Three: June 3rd, Nashville
Game Four: June 5th, Nashville
Game Five: June 8th, Pittsburgh
Game Six: June 11th, Nashville
Game Seven: June 14th, Pittsburgh
Game one of the series had a bit of controversial start as it appeared that the Predators had opened the scoring in the game, however, a challenge from Penguins’ coach Mike Sullivan was thrown down and it was upheld as well, with the Predators having the goal disallowed for offside. So that was a meaty start and it was the Penguins who actually seemed to gather some momentum from that as they stretched themselves out to a three goal lead, with each goal coming in the final five minutes of the first period. To their credit, the Predators fought back with the Pens going through a bit of a slow period and with less than ten minutes to go in the game, the Preds found themselves tied at 3-3. However, three minutes after the Preds had tied it up, Pittsburgh found a fourth goal and then scored an empty-netter with around a minute left on the clock as Nashville tried to save the game.
There are some similarities between this year’s Stanley Cup Finals and last year’s. Last year the Penguins find themselves going up against the San Jose Sharks, who were making their debut Finals appearance from the Western Conference, just as the Predators are doing this year. So will the extra experience of the Penguins count? This is actually the third time in their history that they have made it to back to back Stanley Cup Finals and they have the home advantage because of their better record over the regular season than that of the Predators. One other note is that the coaches, Nashville’s Peter Laviolette and Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan are the first to US-born head coaches to face off in a Stanley Cup Final. Ever. In the history of the sport.
Will the Penguins become the first ever side in the current era (during the salary-cap era) to win back to back titles? Will the Predators become the first No. 16 seed to pull off the title (as well as winning it for the first time in their franchise history)? Now the Predators are a very strong defensive unit and they boasted the best defence in the league, largely down to their star man at the back P.K. Subban and it was his goal that was disallowed in Game One. During the course of the regular season, the two sides shared home wins and they were convincing wins as well, with Preds putting a 5-1 victory on the board, with the Pens winning their game over the Predators 4-2. The big feature about the Stanley Cup Finals Betting 2017 with Bet365 is that both sides are pretty banged up because of injury so it is a matter of who will grind it out the best.
Stanley Cup Finals Betting 2017 Series Correct Score Odds
Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 3/1, Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 15/4, Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 4/1, Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0 5/1, Nashville Predators 4-2 6/1, Nashville Predators 4-3 61, Nashville Predators 4-1 14/1
Injury Issues & Squad
Pittsburgh’s defence has been decimated. They have lost their star defenceman Kris Letang, which is a massive blow but it speaks to something of the resolve of the Penguins that they have come all the way through the playoffs without their main man. They are really patched up at the back and that is something that will allow the Predators a real shot at creating some history. But then, on the other side of things, while the Pens are missing their main defenceman, the Preds are missing their main attacking threat with Ryan Johansen out with a thigh injury. As big as Letang’s absence is for the Penguins, Johansen’s absence is way bigger for the Predators.
The Predators will be looking across the line and seeing Pittsburgh’s marquee players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz and they may rightly be thinking uh-oh. But the Preds are there on defensive merit and they are going to need their veterans like captain Mike Fisher and P.K. Subban to produce their very best. Just to highlight the individual threats that the Pens have, four of the top six players from the Stanley Cup Play Offs (based on points) were all from the Pittsburgh Penguins (Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel). The Preds had one inside the top ten, young Filip Forsberg. The Preds won their Western Conference Final 4-2 against the Anaheim Ducks, while the Pens needed second overtime in Game 7 against the Ottawa Senators to get back to the Finals.
Goaltending
There is nothing to split the two sides in his one. The Penguins are carried by Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury and either between the sticks is going to serve the side well. But then you have the wall that is Pekka Rinne in the Nashville net and he was the top goaltender in the postseason (with at least five games played) .941 save percentage. The Preds don’t have the backup quality that the Penguins do, but Rinne is in red hot form.
Coaching
So you have two American head coaches opposing for the first time in the history of the Stanley Cup Finals. Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan deserves a tremendous amount of credit for getting his patched up defence through the play offs. It’s been epic stuff from him and Nashville’s Laviolette has got his team playing in his famed style of open, confident speed. He is just one of four coaches to have made it to the NHL Finals with three different teams. Evenly matched all the way in this department.
Stanley Cup Finals Betting Prediction
Overall the series should be tight, and pretty breathless. You have two determined sides here and neither of them are just going to roll over. It’s a huge credit to what the Pens have down with their defence though the play offs and it came through when it mattered most in Game 7 of their Conference Final against the Sens (without the home advantage in the series). That just tips the balance in their favour and with Nashville missing the influence of Johansen, the Pens can defend their title in a competitive series and the 4-2 correct at Bet365 is going to have big appeal.
