The best sports betting websites remember the lessons that the Los Angeles Kings showed everyone last year when the team barely made the playoffs and then won the Stanley Cup. But there is still something demotivating about a team that works so hard to make the playoffs only to find out that it has to meet the best team in the league in the opening round. The Minnesota Wild beat out the Columbus Blue Jackets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. For their efforts, the Wild was rewarded with a first round berth against the Chicago Blackhawks. That is not much of a reward for a team that is probably already dog tired.
The Chicago Blackhawks made this shortened season look easy. The sports betting services watched as the Blackhawks got off to one of the best starts in NHL history. The Blackhawks looked like they would stumble for a moment, but Chicago righted the ship and blasted its way to a President’s Trophy win. Every hockey fan knows that the President’s Trophy is the playoff kiss of death. Chicago will run into problems, but it probably will not be until later in the playoffs.
Minnesota Wild
If the Minnesota Wild was a goal-scoring juggernaut, a la the Pittsburgh Penguins, then there may be a chance that the sports books would believe that Minnesota had a chance in this series. The Chicago Blackhawks win hockey games by outscoring their opponents. The one element that Chicago was lacking last season as a good defense and reliable goaltending. Now that Chicago can play defense and goal, the Wild has a three-headed monster on its hands. Minnesota does not score the necessary amount of goals to outshoot a team like Chicago and it is really unable to keep Chicago from scoring at will.
Chicago Blackhawks
If you have been betting on sports for the last few years, then you know how important goaltending is to an NHL contender. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been snakebit by bad playoff goaltending so long now that the team brought in veteran goalie Tomas Vokoun to try and fix the problem. The Chicago Blackhawks will be riding two goalies into the playoffs who do not have good track records in the postseason. Corey Crawford and Ray Emery are the keys for Chicago in the playoffs. For the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup, one of these two goalies is going to have to play out of character.
The Bottom Line
The Minnesota Wild battled until the last day of the season to make it into the playoffs. The Wild are tired, beat up and behind the 8-ball before this series even begins. The Chicago Blackhawks are hitting on all cylinders and ready to win. This series will be a relative breeze for the Blackhawks considering what awaits the team later in the playoffs.
