Round Two Stanley Cup Bets; Former Sharks’ Key Roles

The Florida Panthers narrowly avoided disaster in the form of a 3-0 series deficit with an overtime win in Game 3. Despite the Toronto Maple Leafs having their second 2-0 series lead for the first time since 1963, they couldn’t push Florida and it’s multiple former San Jose Sharks to the brink.

Toronto and Florida collide again Sunday in Toronto, and oddsmakers are loving the intensity of the NHL playoffs, but especially this series. Despite the game in Toronto, Florida is the heavy favorite, at -200. Toronto is getting the underdog odds at +164.

The former Sharks, Nico Sturm and Jonah Gadjovich, have played important roles in the series for Florida. Gadjovich netted the go-ahead goal in Game 3. Even though it didn’t stand up as the winner, the tally put Toronto on the defensive.

Of course, Toronto has a couple of former Sharks getting their playoff kicks, too. Steven Lorentz figures to be in the lineup again for Game 4, while former Sharks defenseman Matt Benning is with the club as part of the Black Aces reserves. He played seven games for San Jose this season and was part of the Timothy Liljegren trade, playing the remainder of the year with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

Face off is 4:40 Pacific time.

While Florida is heavily favored in Game 4, Toronto is still getting the bulk of bettors’ money to win the series at -126. Florida is holding steady at +105.

If you’re looking for bigger odds payouts that carry bigger risk, then the series specials are a good place to start. If Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand each score two or more goals in the series, bettors get a healthy +290 payout.

Marchand already has two goals in the series, scoring in both Game 2 and Game 3. Sam Bennett netted a marker in Game 2. Thus far, Matthew Tkachuk hasn’t scored, so perhaps that is the risk.

A bigger risk would be taking the other player bet going off at +300; Oddsmakers are setting the high bar for both William Nylander and Auston Matthews to score three goals in the series. Nylander has three, but Matthews has thus far, and surprisingly, registered a big zero.

“When I watch the video, (Matthews) has the puck a bunch,” said Florida coach Paul Maurice on Saturday. “He has the puck on his stick. I am not feeling good about it behind the bench. It doesn’t go, and I feel a lot better about it.”

The other game is an afternoon tilt between the Western Conference powers Winnipeg and Dallas, which goes off the board after the puck drop around 1:30 Pacific time.