Ad Disclosure
Rematch: A Look at the Panthers vs. Oilers Stanley Cup Final Odds
By Joe Tansey
Published:
The second straight Florida/Edmonton Stanley Cup Final kicks off on Wednesday.
As my wife would say, “Hockey’s still going on? It’s almost the summer!?“
She’s absolutely right, but I think there’s plenty of general intrigue in the matchup because you have Connor McDavid looking for his first Cup to confirm his legacy in the sport.
McDavid and the Oilers have home ice and are slightly favored to win the series at -130 over at bet365. That’s also the money line price for Wednesday’s Game 1.
Speaking of McDavid, he’s the overwhelming favorite to the win the Conn Smythe. bet365 has a boost available to get him from -105 to +100. No other Oilers player is listed below +800 to win the Conn Smythe, so you kinda get the drift here.
If Edmonton breaks Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought, then McDavid is likely to win the MVP. Hell, he won it last year despite losing the series.
McDavid is going to be the most-bet player in the series and there are plenty of ways to take advantage of him at plus-money prices, starting with series-long props.
McJesus is +130 to lead the series in points. That’s a steal for a guy who had multiple points in four of the five Western Conference Final games. He also had a pair of four-point performances against the Panthers in last year’s Stanley Cup Final.
The series point over/under for McDavid sits at 8.5. If the series goes longer than five games, there’s a good chance he hits the over on that mark.
bet365 has a few other players listed for series-long props. Both Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are listed at over/under 5.5 series points with the over at plus-money. Nugent-Hopkins has been on McDavid’s line for most of the postseason and both players are on Edmonton’s top power-play unit. Bouchard had five points in each of the last two series, while Nugent-Hopkins had four multi-point games in the last round against Dallas.
Now, look, the series isn’t all about McDavid. Florida is in their third straight Stanley Cup Final. They got waxed by Vegas two years ago and then needed a Game 7 to beat the Oilers last year. Edmonton was down 0-3 and rallied to force Game 7.
Sam Bennett is the primary prop target from the Florida lineup. Two years ago, he led Florida in shots on goal in the Cup Final, and this year, he leads the entire NHL in postseason scoring.
You can get Bennett at -180 to score two goals in the Cup Final at bet365. That’s juice that’s worth the squeeze, and I’d even look into three goals at +160.
I wouldn’t go too crazy with series-long props because there’s a chance this could be over in five games and there might not be enough chances for players to reach certain milestones, but McDavid and Bennett have been consistent all postseason long, so I’d trust them.
As for Game 1, I’d look into Edmonton props for PA sports betting and on New Jersey sports betting apps, especially McDavid shots on goal and points. The Oilers need a much better start to the Cup Final this year. I’d play a Same Game Parlay of McDavid, Bouchard and Evander Kane to have 2+ shots on goal. Kane has 2+ SOG in six of the last seven games, Bouchard hit that number in 5 of the last 9 and McDavid has multiple SOGs in every game this postseason. That pays out at +130 on bet365. You can adjust it for McDavid to have 3+ SOG to get you to +200.
As a reminder, make sure to use bet365 and sportsbooks that do not limit hockey props to 60 minutes in the postseason.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.