NHL Playoffs: Betting Playbook For Wednesday, May 25

NHL Betting Playbook for Wednesday

Wednesday'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 21-13 (62%) on 3-star and above NHL picks in the past 7 days for a total return of $338 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!

Welp, we are getting to that time of the hockey calendar where we won't have many games to discuss daily because teams are starting to get eliminated from contention. That's both awesome and sad, because the Stanley Cup Champion will be crowned soon but the season will be ending as well. No matter, we will enjoy the time on the ice we have left.

Wednesday's lone contest features the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, and if you have been watching this series, the Avalanche caught a massive break when Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was ruled out for the rest of the series early in Game 3 with an injury he suffered. Now, Colorado is just one win away from the Western Conference Finals against either the Calgary Flames or Edmonton Oilers. St. Louis will have to dig deep on the edge of elimination to force a Game 6.

As I stated earlier, the loss of Binnington for the Blues has been very impactful on how this series has turned in the last two games. In Game 4, it was very evident in their 6-3 loss to the Avalanche after goaltender Ville Husso allowed 5 goals on 36 shots. The wheels are starting to fall off for St. Louis, and Colorado is starting to smell blood in the water. They will do everything they can to clinch this series on home ice in Game 5, but Blues like David Perron and Pavel Buchnvevich will try their best to keep that from happening. I mention those two because they did everything for St. Louis in Game 4. Perron had a pair of goals while Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, but they will need their teammates to step up on the road in Colorado, especially their netminder. One good note for the Blues: their power play continues to light up Colorado’s special teams like a Christmas tree, having gone 4/8 on power plays in the series thus far.

As for the Avalanche, they can taste victory in this series on the tip of their tongues. More specifically, Nazem Kadri, who went off for three goals to go along with an assist in a Game 3 victory. Kadri has been incredible these playoffs, and is now tied with stars Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon for the team’s goal-scoring lead in the playoffs with five. This is a team that is extremely dangerous offensively, and they have been all year. They have three 5-goal scorers and five players with at least four goals in the playoffs, and are no. 1 among all teams in the playoffs with 4.5 goals for per contest. Colorado is dominating five-on-five play with a 62.47 CF% in the series, controlling possessions at a huge rate, which has been covering for their pathetic special teams performance.