Two teams not expected to still be in the NHL Playoffs will meet in the second round of sports betting as the Philadelphia Flyers face the Boston Bruins. One of these teams is going to make the Eastern Conference finals and have a chance to go to the Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins are a slight Internet sports betting favorite to win the series.
Sports betting odds on this series are really close since neither team was expected to be here. The Flyers upset the New Jersey Devils in the first round NHL series while the Bruins surprised the Buffalo Sabres. The advantage in this series could be with the Bruins as Philadelphia will be without Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Ian Laperriere. The goaltending edge may also be with Boston as they have Tuukka Rask while Philadelphia has Brian Boucher. Despite what Boucher did against the Devils, the edge in goal has to go to Boston. It also helps the Bruins that they are getting top scorer Marc Savard back from injury.
Not all is lost for the Flyers though in this series. They have the confidence of upsetting New Jersey in sports betting odds and Boucher did play well in goal. The Flyers are a team that takes a lot of penalties and that could be the deciding factor in this series. Boston scored six goals on the power play against Buffalo and now they get Savard back in the lineup. Boston was great in penalty killing in that series so they may be able to slow down a Philly power play that scored eight times in the first round.
Neither one of these teams is going to throw fear into opponents. They win vs. the sports betting odds by playing defense and playing a physical game. Boston may have the talent edge though and unless Boucher can repeat his heroics of the last series, the Bruins should win. The matchup on defense should be entertaining as the Bruins have Zdeno Chara while the Flyers counter with Chris Pronger.
This should be a low scoring NHL sports betting series between two defensive teams. If you like hard hitting and goaltending then this series should be for you. Look for Rask to outplay Boucher in goal and for the Bruins to find enough offense to advance in Internet sports betting.