NHL Playoffs: Betting Playbook For Tuesday, May 24

NHL Betting Playbook for Tuesday

Tuesday's NHL trends are collected and ready to go for Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let's take a look at what you should know before betting on the NHL postseason games. 

One trend to note is that the BetQL NHL model has gone 18-6 (75%) on 2-star and above NHL picks in the past 3 days for a total return of $744 on $100 bets, so you'll definitely want to know who the model is picking in these awesome second-round matchups. BetQL subscribers can see more betting trends and all of our best bets, including player props, with star ratings for every game!

The New York Rangers gave themselves some life again by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series, which brought them within one game of the Hurricanes. This also continued the now-unbelievable trend that has been going on in Carolina's postseason: they have won every single home game and lost every road game so far. That is pretty remarkable, and if the trend continues, means that the Rangers are a mortal lock tonight on Tuesday. There really isn't much separation between these two teams, nor was their much separation between Carolina and Boston in round one, which could be why we are seeing this trend.

The Hurricanes had the higher seed and better record in the regular season, but not by that much over the Rangers. Just six points was the difference between them. It looks like Antti Raanta could get yet another start in net for the Hurricanes, but the man has got to be getting tired. Carolina has leaned on him heavily without much of a break since starting goaltender Frederik Andersen has been out with an injury. Despite the loss in Game 3, Raanta has been fantastic this postseason. He had 30 saves on 32 shots in that last loss, and continues to play well in the absence of Anderson. The Hurricanes actually won the possession battle in Game 3 with 44 shots to just 33 by the Rangers, and had a 62.43 xGF%. Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin was just a wall that Carolina couldn't get past.

New York needed their goaltender to steal them a win, with the team being down 2-0 and couldn't afford another loss. Shesterkin came through when they needed him to, and played out of his mind in Game 3. He made 43 saves on 44 attempts faced, and showed why he should win the Vezina Trophy this season for best goaltender. In fact, he may be the only reason this team is still alive. Many believe that he had a poor first-round against Pittsburgh, and while the numbers do say that is the case, Shesterkin has faced an absolute barrage of offense this postseason. He has 339 saves over his last 10 games in this postseason, which is the most in franchise history in a single playoff run. His defense is not helping him at all.

In a surprising turn of events, the Calgary Flames find themselves down 2-1 in their series against the Edmonton Oilers after losing Game 3. What makes it so surprising is that the Flames absolutely annihilated the Oilers 9-6 in Game 1, and haven't been able to come close to replicating that since, at least offensively. The defense has lived up to that performance, which is to say, it has been horrid. After being one of the top defenses in the NHL during the regular season, and in round one against Dallas, they have seemingly imploded here. The Oilers’ speed is always going to be a problem for Calgary, with superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the charge. Jacob Markstrom has actually done a decent job in net, considering what he has been facing. One thing that Calgary has been good at is controlling the puck, as they have been all season. Driving the puck down the attacking zone and getting off shots is what they do best, and with their 5-on-5 58.32 xGF%, it is still happening. They just need to get that scoring touch back, along with some semblance of defense.

As for Edmonton, the very controversial Evander Kane had himself a game in his last match. He single-handedly took the game over in just one period of action, scoring a hat-trick in just 20 minutes of action. He destroyed the Calgary defense all game, embarrassing them at times and making them look like amateurs. Kane now has 10 postseason goals, which is astounding considering the scoring prowess the two stars he's playing with have. Then again, when you play with guys like that, they make everyone around them better and attract a lot of attention. They now have Calgary looking for answers for what was their biggest strength, and that is a mentally difficult challenge for any team. Edmonton does need to get better on special teams, however. They went 0/5 on the power play in Game 3 and are just 1/15 in this series. Yet somehow, they’re still averaging 5 goals per game in the second round.