Stanley Cup Odds: Bruins vs. Canucks Preview
by Frank Doyle of Sports Interaction - 6/1/2011
Montreal is the last Canadian team to take Lord Stanley’s Cup home. Canada has waited eighteen years for the cup to return, and seen Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa fall at the final hurdle since. Hockey is Canada’s heartbeat. The absence of the cup pains the nation.
So no pressure, then, on the Vancouver Canucks, the red hot (1.36) favorites to win beat the Boston Bruins and return the Stanley Cup to Canada. Boston is under a certain amount of pressure too – an Original Six team in a town where all the other major sports teams have won plural championships this decade – but a nation hasn’t pinned its hopes to the Bruins the way Canada has to the Canucks.
Can Vancouver do it? Yes. The Canucks are favorites for a number of reasons. They’re the best team in hockey, winners of the Presidents’ Trophy for this year. Their first playoff series was their long dark night of the soul, when Chicago came back from 0-3 down to force Game 7 but what didn’t kill the Canucks made them stronger and they had relatively easy wins over Nashville and San Jose in the subsequent series.
On the intangible level, the Canucks also have an advantage in terms of being more used to travelling. Boston’s eastern opponents are all geographically near – New York, Philly, Buffalo. Vancouver is 2,500 miles away. If you suffer a heartbreaking loss and then have to get on a plane to fly a four-hour red eye – that’s not easily done when you’re not used to it.
In Boston’s favor is that there is no team truer to its roots than the Boston Bruins. They play tough and leave nothing behind on the ice. The Bruins had a tougher path to the Finals than Vancouver, and that might be to their advantage.
But Boston struggles with its power play and doesn’t have the depth of scoring class that Vancouver enjoys. That’s a big gap for heart and toughness to make up.
Sports Interaction has – naturally – a host of bets on the Stanley Cup Finals, and more are being posted all the time. Vancouver is a the hot favorite, paying $10 in every $25 profit if it wins, while Boston is the underdog at 2.90.
The favorite for the series correct score is Vancouver to win 4-1 at 4.00, followed by Vancouver winning in 7 at 4.40. A Canuck sweep is 8.50, while a Boston sweep is a longshot, paying $25 profit on every dollar bet if the Bruins shock the world.
Vancouver is a hot favorite for Game 1 on Canadian ice – get all the Stanley Cup action, including game bets, series bets and live betting on every game, with Sports Interaction!