posted April 18, 2008 at 12:10 in NHL Betting Trends

If you did any futures NHL betting during the regular season you would have noticed that the Stanley Cup favorites were usually either the Ottawa Senators or the Detroit Red Wings. Well, the Sens were quickly dispatched from the playoffs, and the Wings need to snap a losing skid on Friday night to avoid being put on the brink of elimination. An online sport betting has really gotten exciting.

Detroit will play host to the Nashville Predators on Friday (with puck drop at 7:30pm ET), and even though they’re currently listed as the +300 favorite at BetUS to win the Stanley Cup this spring, they find themselves in a first-round series that is tied at two games apiece. Nashville, on the other hand, is well back on the Cup odds list at +7500.

However, the Predators have won each of the past two games of their series (at home) to start making Red Wings fans nervous. The comeback began in Game 3 on Monday, when the Preds rallied for a 5-3 victory. Detroit actually took a 2-0 lead in that contest, but Nashville tied it up by the end of the second period. The Wings then went up 3-2 early in the third before the Predators scored three unanswered goals to secure the win.

Alexander Radulov, David Legwand, Ryan Suter, Jason Arnott, and Martin Erat (into an empty net) all scored for Nashville in their first win of the series, while Marek Zidlicky and Jan Hlavac picked up two assists apiece. Kris Draper, Jiri Hudler, and Pavel Datsyuk had the goals for the losing side. Preds goalie Dan Ellis kicked out 23 of 26 shots on the night, while Red Wings counterpart Dominik Hasek stopped 24 of 28 shots.

Hasek was looking to turn in a better effort in Game 4 on Wednesday night, but instead the veteran keeper allowed three goals on 14 shots and was eventually pulled in favor of Chris Osgood in a 3-2 Detroit loss. Blueliners Dan Hamhuis, Shea Weber, and Greg de Vries had the goals for Nashville in that game, while Datsyuk scored twice for the Wings. Ellis had a great game between the pipes for the Predators, picking up 39 saves.

So both the Preds and the Wings will be looking to take a 3-2 lead when they hit the ice on Friday. Regardless of the outcome that best-of-seven set will continue on Sunday afternoon in Nashville with Game 6. If a Game 7 is required it will be played on Tuesday.

While the Wings will be trying to shift the momentum back in their direction on Friday, the New Jersey Devils will be simply trying to avoid playoff elimination. Martin Brodeur and company got back into their first-round series with the New York Rangers with a Game 3 win last weekend, but a 5-3 loss in Game 4 on Wednesday has them down 3-1.

Scott Gomez scored twice (once into an empty net) against his old team in that contest, while Martin Straka, Chris Drury, and Marc Staal potted the other New York goals. Patrik Elias scored twice for New Jersey, and Mike Mottau had the other Devils marker. Brodeur allowed four goals on 38 shots in the contest, while Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist picked up his third victory of the playoffs by stopping 28 of the 31 Devils shots.

New York is now listed at +900 to win the Stanley Cup this season, and you can expect those odds to get even better if they can knock out rival New Jersey on Friday (puck drop is 7:30pm ET). The Devils have fallen to +6000 odds on that futures list. If New Jersey wins Friday then Game 6 will be played Sunday, and any Game 7 would be Tuesday.

Check the BetUS NHL Betting lines section for the latest Cup futures and individual game odds.

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