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The Flyers are a Potentially Frisky Underdog Against the Oilers
By Joe Tansey
Published:
Where were you when Michkov Mania ran all over McJesus and the Edmonton Oilers?
That’s a text you might actually wake up to on Wednesday morning.
No, I’m not joking around, the Philadelphia Flyers have a real chance to upset the Edmonton Oilers on national television Tuesday night.
It’s not surprising to see the Flyers as a +164 underdog on the money line, because, well the Oilers have Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Leon Draisaitl and are the home team.
That sentence alone would lead a lot of people to bet the Oilers without even considering early-season form, which in fact, favors the Flyers.
Edmonton started 0-3 with losses to the Winnipeg Jets (solid team), Chicago Blackhawks (very bad team), and Calgary Flames (certainly not a good team).
The Oilers’ defense is shaky at best with 15 concessions in those three games. The Jets, Blackhawks, and Flames each scored at least four goals on Edmonton. The Flyers’ team total is set at over/under 2.5 for Tuesday.
The Flyers haven’t scored at that type of clip in two games against Vancouver and Calgary, but they are averaging 35.3 shots per game.
Getting pucks on net is half the battle and the Flyers have six guys with at least five shots on goal, led by Travis Konecny with nine. Five other skaters, including Matvei Michkov and noted shot ripper Owen Tippett, have four shots on goal.
A year ago, the Flyers picked off the Oilers in October at home behind 32 shots on goal. Konecny had five shots on goal in that game and 10 total shots on goal against Edmonton last season.
If hockey is part of your Pennsylvania sports betting routine, the over/under on Konecny’s shots on goal sits at 2.5 at DraftKings with the over priced at -180. He is -176 to have three shots on goal on FanDuel. Tyson Foerster is another player prop candidate to look at. He had four SOGs in both of the first two games. He is listed at plus-money across the board to go over 2.5 shots on goal.
The Flyers had mixed results defending Edmonton’s stars last season. In the 4-1 win in October, the Flyers held McDavid without a shot on goal and limited Hyman and Draisaitl to five combined SOG. In December, McDavid had a five-point game, Hyman had three points and six SOGs and Draisaitl had two points and two SOGs.
Of course, the Oilers are capable of flipping the switch into super team mode at any point, but they have gained a reputation as a slow starter. They started 1-6 last season and began the 2022-23 campaign with a 2-3 record.
So if there was any time for the Flyers to pull off the upset and shock the Oilers, Tuesday would be the time to do it.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.