The holy grail of sports provides an opportunity for bettors to win enough to buy one of their own as we take you through Stanley Cup Final Game 1 odds between the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning with puck drop coming Wednesday night in Denver.
It doesn’t get much better than this for hockey fans.
The Lightning are looking to become just the third team since the NHL’s 1967 expansion to win three consecutive Stanley Cups while the Avalanche attempt to claim their spot atop the league — a place where many believed they should have been already — and win their first title since 2001.
It’s important to remember that you don’t HAVE to bet on every game. We’re giving you what we believe are the best picks for you to explore.
If it doesn’t feel right, stay away. You can always get ’em on the next one.
New to betting? Read our Beginner’s Guide to Betting with a glossary of terms.
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Colorado Avalanche, 8 p.m. ET
- Game 1
- Watch on ABC
- Full series preview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TExhoPoOxNk
Usually, when going into a playoff series, the goaltending matchup plays a key role in making your picks. This might be one of the rare occasions where that doesn’t come into play.
Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy is without a doubt one of the top goalies on the planet. He’ll be facing Darcy Kuemper who had a mediocre showing in the playoffs and is coming off an injury to get back between the pipes for Game 1.
Advantage Lightning, obviously. But can Tampa’s talented defense, which knows how to make the proper adjustments to shut down teams, limit Colorado?
That’s the million-dollar question.
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Colorado’s relentless attack has seen them post 65 goals in just 14 games. That’s an average of 4.6 goals per game.
Granted, they put up gaudy numbers against the Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers, but had just a bit more trouble with the St. Louis Blues, who pushed them to six games. Even then they scored 18 goals over the final four games of that series.
The Lightning’s defense and netminding situation will rightly be Colorado’s toughest test yet, but we’ve seen some early inconsistencies throughout their playoff run.
They yielded six to the Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final and five in Game 1 of the first round against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Something to consider heading into the opener.
Stanley Cup Final Game 1 odds and The Pick:
