posted May 15, 2008 at 13:52 in NHL Articles

Pittsburgh Penguins (47-27-8) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (42-29-11)

Thursday, May 15th --- Wachovia Center, Philadelphia --- 7:30pm EST

Series: Pit 3-0

NHL Betting Line: Pittsburgh -165

Can the Penguins accomplish what the Red Wings failed to? If the NHL marketing office has anything to say about it, they will. If the refs have the final say, however, it’ll be a totally different story. Pittsburgh is the heavy road favorite tonight in Game 4 of this sports betting matchup, a game where they can close the book on the Eastern Conference Finals and look forward to Lord Stanley.

How does that affect this online betting contest? Simple. Pittsburgh has been getting away with a lot of dirty work in this series. Namely, I’m pointing the finger at Evgeni Malkin and his wandering elbow. “Oh is that the back of your head, Daniel Briere? I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

In any case, the difference between Philadelphia and Dallas is that Dallas is actually a good hockey team. Philadelphia has been on a dream run after entering the playoffs as the sixth-seed and toppling two giants in Washington and Montreal with a little added extra online betting touch from Lady Luck. They’ve averaged 3.02 goals per game in these playoffs, but Pittsburgh has shut them down to only 1.25 goals per game. In Game 3, the typical turnaround game for the underdog who returns home, the Flyers were throttled 4-1 by a malicious Pittsburgh squad.

The only reason I bring all this up is because if the refs are calling the game tightly, the puck can only bounce the Flyers’ way. Does this mean they’ll win? No. Not at all. It just means that the sports betting puckline is a dangerous bet. Tag the Pens on the money in the UNDER and parlay it with another bet tonight (like Spurs over Hornets).

C’mon. Are you really going to bet against a team that is 11-1 SU in their past 12 games? Pittsburgh is 6-1 SU in their last 7 games against Philly and while Philadelphia is 4-1 SU when playing the Pens at home, they have been absolutely tooled in this series. I don’t expect them to find answers tonight. Neither should their betting faithful.

NHL Free Pick: Pittsburgh -165 (UNDER)

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