The Premier Lacrosse League heads to Dallas for the seventh week of the season and the first following the All-Star break.
Saturday night features meetings between two teams that are still seeking their second win of the season and two teams who have exceeded expectations and could secure their fourth win of the year.
Through five weeks, our PLL picks have gone 33-17 for +17.57 units. Let’s continue to cash some PLL bets as we enter the second half of the season.
If you’re an avid bettor who’s new to lacrosse or a lacrosse fan who’s new to betting, check out my guide on how to bet on lacrosse for some tips to use when placing a lacrosse bet.
Atlas LC (-1.5) vs. Chrome LC
| Chrome Odds | -103 |
| Atlas Odds | -125 |
| Total | 24.5 |
| Time | Saturday · 6 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
Odds via BetRivers
Two last-place teams face each other on Saturday night with major playoff implications on the line. A loss for the Atlas would drop their chances of making the playoffs from 75% to nearly a coin flip, while a loss by the Chrome would plummet their chances from 39% to less than 20%.
The Atlas enter as the favorites and are 1.5-point favorites or greater for the sixth straight time this season.
The total is 24.5 at most sportsbooks.
The Atlas had more than two weeks to prepare for an anemic Chrome offense, so I expect this defense to have a much better showing than it did through the team’s first five games.
Expect Gavin Adler to be able to effectively neutralize the Chrome's leading attackman, Jackson Morrill, and for the Atlas' defense to use this game as a get-right spot. While the Atlas should win and cover the spread, there’s no reason to back an Atlas team on the side or spread since they're 0-5 against the spread to start the season.
The Chrome’s defense has been playing at a high level despite their offensive woes, and they have the personnel to at least keep this Atlas offense in check. Through five games, the Chrome boasts the best settled defensive efficiency, only allowing goals on 25% of settled possessions.
While starting goaltender Sean Sconone hasn’t been as great between the pipes as past seasons, he’s still one of the best at stopping the long ball and should have success against an Atlas offense that's only scored more than 12 goals once this season.
For all these reasons, bet this game to stay under 24.5 points at-113 on BetRivers.
I’m also targeting Sconone’s saves prop of 12.5 in this game. The Chrome have decided to not roster starting faceoff specialist Connor Farrell for the first time this season, as they get set to face the top faceoff specialist in the league in Trevor Baptiste.
This will undoubtedly result in more possessions for Atlas off the faceoff, but the 32-second shot clock following a faceoff doesn’t provide teams with as much time to generate quality looks. The Chrome are effectively allowing Sconone to see a higher shot volume, with the expectation that those shots will be rushed and ultimately easier to stop.
All this creates a perfect storm to bet Sconone to surpass his saves prop of 12.5 at +114 on FanDuel.
Picks: Under 24.5 | Sean Sconone Over 12.5 Saves
Cannons LC (-1.5) vs. Redwoods LC
| Redwoods Odds | -110 |
| Cannons Odds | -110 |
| Total | 24.5 |
| Time | Saturday · 8:30 p.m. ET |
| TV | ESPN+ |
Odds via FanDuel
The two teams who have exceeded expectations the most so far are undoubtedly the Cannons and Redwoods.
The Cannons have already tripled their win total from a season ago, and the Redwoods are a win away from matching their 2022 season total.
The Cannons enter this game as 1.5-point favorites for the second straight game this season, despite both teams boasting a 3-2 record.
I’ll admit, this matchup might be the hardest to handicap this weekend. I could see the Cannons continuing their run against a Redwoods team that's been far too reliant on goaltender Jack Kelly and attackmen Rob Pannell and Ryder Garnsey.
The Redwoods could easily be exposed as pretenders this weekend if their offense doesn’t show up again like last game.
Yet, the Cannons could be considered the easiest defense the Redwoods have faced all season, allowing nearly the same percent of goals per possession on defense as the Redwoods at 31.8%.
The Cannons are also opting to take the “concede and defend” approach to faceoffs, which could backfire if TD Ierlan is able win faceoffs cleanly and generate chances against the second-worst transition defense in the PLL.
So, I’m passing on picking a side in this game, and I would rather consider the expected faceoff scenario when betting a specific player prop.
Colin Kirst has played well in net since being named the Cannons’ starter, even if the shot volume hasn’t been as high. He’s saved 55% of the shots he’s faced this season and failed to record a save percentage less than 48% — something only two other starting netminders (Blaze Riorden and Dillon Ward) can say so far this season.
While he’s only managed to record 12, 10 and 11 saves in his three respective starts, he’ll face a Redwoods team that takes the third-most shots on settled offense and could be forced to push more in transition if the Cannons' strategy of defending the faceoff is successful.
Much like the Sconone situation, this is a great scenario to bet Kirst to face a ton of lower-quality looks and stop more than 11.5 shots (+118 on FanDuel) on Saturday night.
