Check out Greg Liodice's Stanley Cup Final bets with his favorite series picks and predictions.
With the Stanley Cup Final kicking off on Saturday, we've got a ton of storylines to look out for. Whether it'd be Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl securing their first Stanley Cup or Florida head coach Paul Maurice winning his first after 26 seasons behind an NHL bench, all eyes will be on this exciting series. and especially Oilers vs. Panthers Game 1 on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, ABC & ESPN+).
Our NHL crew came through with four Stanley Cup futures for this series earlier this week. With that in mind, I've compiled three additional best bets in which I see a massive amount of value.
Let's dive in and learn about where the value lies in these three Stanley Cup series best bets for the Oilers vs. Panthers series.
The Florida Panthers have run through a gauntlet all playoffs, and now they're just four wins away from their first-ever Stanley Cup.
A lot of that success has to do with goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who has been a brickwall all postseason. Bobrovsky has a tall task, though, as the dynamic Edmonton Oilers come into town.
Edmonton, led by its four-headed monster in McDavid (31 points), Draisaitl (28 points), Evan Bouchard (27 points) and Zach Hyman (18 points), have torn through the Western Conference.
In every game this postseason, the Oilers have peppered copious amounts of shots at opposing netminders. With the exception of three games these playoffs, the opposing netminder has recorded at least 20 saves in each game Edmonton has played this postseason.
Bobrovsky can certainly handle his own, and no matter how strong the Oilers can be, I can totally see the Russian netminder securing 20 saves each game.
FanDuel has this at +205 , and I think the value is impossible to ignore.
In the series against the Dallas Stars, Draisaitl seemed to have been a bit limited on the offensive end. Despite registering three points in the final three games of the series, the German sniper averaged only two shots, which is unlike him.
Before that series, we’d usually see Draisaitl get the puck on net more often than not. He averaged 3.8 shots per game in the first 12 playoff games. That should tell you everything you need to know.
Even though he wasn’t a scoring force in the Conference Finals, he managed to rank third in Corsi and expected goals.
I’m quite surprised that Draisaitl’s odds for this bet are in plus-money territory, but given his slowdown last series, oddsmakers seem to think he’ll continue to take a backseat to McDavid.
This one sounds a bit out there, but it’s not as far-fetched as you might think.
Florida went through a chess match against the Rangers, who may have the top goaltender in the league in Igor Shesterkin. However, the Panthers aren’t facing that kind of high-end goaltending anymore.
Stuart Skinner is a fine goalie, but he’s a tier or two below the goalies that Florida has faced this postseason. Between Shesterkin, Jeremy Swayman and Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Panthers averaged 3.1 goals per game. With Skinner, I have to imagine that goals will come by much easier than they were in the last series.
Factor in the Oilers, who have one of the most dynamic offenses in the NHL, I can see a world where this series is flooded with goals.
McDavid has an absurd 31 points, and Draisaitl has netted 10 goals so far. Additionally, Hyman has lit the lamp 14 times in 18 games. The Oilers will surely get theirs – it’s just a matter of how many they'll get.
