Another chapter in the New York-Boston sports rivalry commences on ABC at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. The New York Atlas take on the Boston Cannons in the third game of the Premier Lacrosse League weekend and I have three best bets for the game.
New York Atlas vs. Boston Cannons
| New York (-1.5) Odds | -164 |
| Boston (+1.5) Odds | +134 |
| Total | 27.5 |
| Time | Saturday · 3 p.m. ET |
| TV | ABC |
New York is a 1.5-point favorite this time around after defeating Boston in Week 1, 19-12. The total ranges between 26.5 and 27.5 across sportsbooks for the Eastern Conference rematch. I expect New York to come away with another win over Boston, but I think this game could be closer than the first meeting.
Rather than bet New York on the full game spread, I’m betting Atlas -1.5 in the first half. New York torched the Cannons in its first matchup and while Boston's defense has improved, I see New York having a lot of early success.
Boston’s defense has improved tremendously as the season has progressed, but its weaknesses off-ball and inability to defend shifty attackmen like Connor Shellenberger and Jeff Teat is still a big weakness.
I expect Atlas to come out early and build a lead against the Cannons who have been prone to slow starts. Boston has been a much better second half team for most of the season, with a -2 score differential in the first half and a +7 in the second half.
Ultimately, I expect New York to win this game, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it gets off to a hot start and let Boston back into the game in the second half. Therefore, the best bet is to take Atlas -1.5 in the first half at +100 on DraftKings.
I mentioned how Boston’s defense has improved since facing New York. Boston has allowed just 9.6 goals against per game since its opening loss. The Atlas defense has not fared as well, but they held Denver to just two goals until the final few minutes in their last game, while rookie Liam Entenmann looked like he could elevate the defense to another level.
While this game won’t be low-scoring by any standard, I do expect it to stay under 27.5.
While these teams combined for 31 points in their last meeting, at least 10 of those points came in transition or on broken plays. I expect these defenses to be more buttoned up and recommend betting this game to stay under 27.5.
Finally, despite liking the under, I’m going to bet Colin Kirst to stay under his saves prop of 14.5. Kirst has stayed under this mark in 11 of his last 16 games and New York is converting at a league-best 35.4%. He stopped 13 of 34 shots on goal in their first game of the season and while I expect the defense to have a better outing, I think that will happen if it limits New York to less shots and not because Kirst will have a monster game in net.
This total is just a couple saves too high and -115 on ESPN Bet is a great price to bet Kirst to stay under 14.5 saves on Saturday.
