Andrei Vasilevskiy was 20-to-1 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at the start of the playoffs.

Brayden Point was 30-to-1. Nikita Kucherov was 30-to-1.

Good luck finding a decent price for any of those three to win playoff MVP at this point.

The Tampa Bay Lightning (-135) beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 3 of their Stanley Cup semifinal on Thursday night to take a 2-1 series lead.

The defending Stanley Cup champs are now two wins away from getting back to the final.

Vasilevskiy, Point and Kucherov have led the way for Tampa Bay in these playoffs. So, it’s no surprise that trio makes up three of the top four choices to win the Conn Smythe Trophy now that they are six wins away from repeating.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Friday June 18, 2021.

Lightning’s big three shine in Game 3 win

Point’s league-leading 11th goal of the playoffs turned out to be the game winner in Thursday night’s win.

The 25-year-old forward has scored in six consecutive games – the longest postseason streak in franchise history.

He now has three more goals than Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand for the playoff lead, and will be able to add to that total while MacKinnon and Marchand watch from home.

After he opened the postseason at 30-to-1 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, Point is now the fourth choice to win it at +450.

Only Vasilevskiy (+200), Marc-Andre Fleury (+275) and Nikita Kucherov (+350) have shorter odds.

Kucherov picked up an assist on Point’s winner in Game 3 and now has 23 points in 14 playoff games after missing the entire regular season.

His 23 points are eight more than Point for the NHL playoff scoring lead.

Meanwhile, Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced in Game 3. His .935 save percentage in these playoffs is the second-best mark behind only Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders, who has posted a .936 save percentage.

In the NHLPA player poll that was released on Thursday, one question was, “Who is the best goalie?”

Vasilevskiy got 54 per cent of the vote.

While Point and Kucherov have performed at an elite level, oddsmakers have given Vasilevskiy the nod as the favourite to win the Conn Smythe.

It will be very interesting to see what the odds look like once the first few Stanley Cup Final games are in the books.

Right now, there’s a case to be made for all three to win the Conn Smythe. First, they need to lead the Lightning to another Stanley Cup win.

Tampa Bay is 13-3 all-time when leading 2-1 in a best-of-seven series.

Middleton, Giannis force Game 7

The Milwaukee Bucks (-5) beat the Brooklyn Nets 104-89 on Thursday night to force a Game 7.

This time around, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo made sure there was no collapse.

Middleton scored a playoff career-high 38 points with 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Antetokounmpo finished with 30 points and 17 rebounds.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Antetokounmpo and Middleton became just the second pair of teammates to each record 30 points and 10 rebounds in multiple games within the same playoff series, joining Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, who did it in in the 2002 Western Conference Finals.

Perhaps the most interesting number to consider from Game 6: Kevin Durant was 0-for-2 with a turnover with Antetokounmpo defending him in the fourth quarter.

It was the first time that Giannis has defended him in the fourth quarter in the series. Will that carry over into the finale?

The Bucks opened at -1 / -110 for Game 7 on Saturday night.

The Nets remain the favourite to win the NBA championship at +230, while Milwaukee is the third choice at +425.

Belgium, Netherlands advance to knockout stage

Belgium and the Netherlands both qualified for the knockout stage at Euro 2020 with wins on Thursday.

Kevin De Bruyne scored the winner as Belgium (-105) overcame the fastest goal allowed at a Euro tournament since 2004 to beat Denmark 2-1.

Netherlands (-165) became the first team at Euro 2020 to overcome a deficit to win as they clinched top spot in Group C with a 2-0 victory over Austria.

The Dutch were -250 to win their group. It will be their first trip to the knockout stage at the Euros since 2008.

Meanwhile, Ukraine beat North Macedonia 2-1 to keep its hopes to advance alive.

Austria will play Ukraine on Monday to determine which side advances as the second-place team from Group C.

Ukraine entered the tournament at -333 to advance to the knockout stage. Austria was -275 to make it to the Round of 16.

Later today, England will host Scotland will resume the oldest rivalry in international soccer history in Group D action.

England can clinch a spot in the knockout stage with a win.

Croatia and the Czech Republic will meet in the

other Group D clash.

Meanwhile, Slovakia can book its spot in the round of 16 with a win over Sweden.

Slovakia, which had the longest odds to advance to the knockout stage of the Group E teams at +150, has a chance to finish first in its group with a win and a little help.

Slovakia was +1600 to win its group.

Henley leads at U.S. Open

Russell Henley was 125-to-1 to lead at the end of the first round at the U.S. Open.

While he is currently tied atop the leaderboard with Louis Oosthuizen after day one, anybody that bet on Henley will have to wait a couple more holes to see if they can cash in.

Jon Rahm, who is two strokes back of the lead, remains the betting favourite to win the U.S. Open at +500.

Brooks Koepka (+700), Louis Oosthuizen (+800), Xander Schauffele (+1000) and Rory McIlroy (+1200) round out the top five choices.