The Chicago Blackhawks are favored in 2010 Stanley Cup odds to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blackhawks finished the regular season as the second seed in the Western Conference so they are definitely considered a stronger team than Philadelphia who just slipped into the playoffs as the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. Stanley Cup betting favors Chicago in Game 1 on Saturday and in the overall series.
2010 Stanley Cup odds, trends and stats point to Chicago in this series. The Blackhawks defeated Nashville, Vancouver and San Jose to reach the Stanley Cup finals. Chicago has a very deep and balanced team led by the top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien. Toews is leading the league with 26 points in the playoffs. Kane has 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists, while Byfuglien leads the team with 8 goals. Chicago also gets scoring from other lines. The Blackhawks have 11 players with two or more goals in 2010 Stanley Cup odds action. Patrick Sharp has seven goals and 16 points.
Chicago’s defense is led by Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Brian Campbell. The Blackhawks are led in goal by Antti Niemi who is 12-4 with a 2.33 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage in the playoffs. Chicago is hitting at 22.6 percent on the power player while their penalty killing is at 86.6 percent.
The Flyers defeated New Jersey, Boston and Montreal in Stanley Cup betting to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. Mike Richards leads the team in points with 21 The Flyers have 11 players with two or more goals in the playoffs. Simon Gagne has seven goals and 10 points in 13 games, while Jeff Carter has four goals and an assist over six games. Danny Briere and Claude Giroux have also played well. Briere has nine goals and is second on the team with 18 points. The Flyers are led on defense by Chris Pronger who is leading all defenseman with an average of 28 minutes, 48 seconds of ice time per game in the playoffs. He is tied with San Jose’s Dan Boyle for the most points by a defenseman with 14. The Flyers also rely upon Kimmo Timonen and the duo of Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn. Goaltender Michael Leighton is 6-1 with a 1.45 GAA and .948 save percentage in the playoffs. 2010 Stanley Cup odds indicate that Philadelphia is hitting at 20.7 percent on the power play and they are killing 87% of the penalties.