Morning Coffee: A FanDuel best bet to consider for the NHL Playoffs

Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr.

That’s the list of NHL players that had recorded at least 100 assists in a single season entering this month.

Thanks to two of the league’s biggest superstars, that list nearly doubled over the past three days. 

On April 15th, Connor McDavid added his name to the list when he registered his 100th assist of the season in a 9-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.

Two nights later, Nikita Kucherov joined that elite club with his 100th assist of the season in a 6-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Meanwhile, despite firing 12 shots on goal on 16 shot attempts in just over 21 minutes of ice time, Auston Matthews ultimately fell just short of reaching the 70-goal mark last night in Tampa.

While I was cheering for Matthews to score 70, his 69 goals are the most in a season since Lemieux scored 69 nearly three decades ago in the 1995-96 season, which is an extremely impressive feat.

Still, the fact that Matthews fired 19 shots on goal since scoring his 69th of the season and failed to find the back of the net is the most consecutive shots that he has taken without scoring a goal all season.

That’s a tough beat for anybody who bet on Matthews to score 70+ goals at FanDuel this season.

As a good friend of mine that happens to be a hardcore Maple Leafs fan put it after last night’s game, “We’re focused on bigger things”.

Toronto opened as a small underdog for its first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins.

With six of the eight NHL playoff series’ set, we’ve already had a look at some early series prices at FanDuel.

There’s one longshot bet that I’ve already circled.

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday, April 18th, 2024.

A FanDuel Best Bet To Consider For The NHL Playoffs

The Washington Capitals clinched the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with just three days remaining in the 2023-24 NHL regular season.

While their rally over the final couple of months of the season was extremely impressive, it certainly helped that the teams they were battling for the final Wild Card struggled with inconsistencies until the very end.

Yes, I’m referring to the Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers.

Ultimately, in a tiebreaker, Washington edged out Detroit for the final playoff spot.

The Capitals were rewarded with a first-round match-up against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the most lopsided matchup on the board based on FanDuel’s series winner odds.

The Rangers are -375 to advance at FanDuel.

That number represents a 78.9 per cent implied win probability.

Washington has nearly 3-to-1 odds to pull off the upset and win the series.

While the Capitals potentially beating New York technically wouldn’t even be the biggest NHL playoff series upset we’ve seen in recent years, a lot would have to go right for Washington to win four of seven games.

All things considered, I’m not convinced that the Capitals will win a game.

The Rangers to sweep the series is currently +520 at FanDuel.

New York to win the series exactly 4-1 is +290.

My FanDuel Best Bet is the Rangers -1.5 in the series alternate handicap market at -160.

New York will need to win the series in four, five, or six games for this bet to cash.

I don’t envision Washington winning three games.

In terms of a longshot bet, I’m intrigued by the Rangers to sweep the Capitals at +520.

Anybody who is convinced that New York will cruise to a series win can take the Rangers to win 4-0 at +520 and the Rangers to win 4-1 at +290 and hope that one of those scenarios plays out for a decent payout.

I’ll take New York -1.5 at -160 as my FanDuel Best Bet.

I’ll also sprinkle on the Rangers to win the series 4-0 at +520 as a longshot bet that I believe can cash.

With the NHL playoffs right around the corner, I’ll publish my full list of futures bets within the next 48 hours.

Make sure you give me a follow @Domenic_Padula on X for the full list ahead of what should be another profitable NHL postseason.