Morning Coffee: Oilers extend record streak, Maple Leafs can push Cats to the brink

The Vegas Golden Knights are under siege.

Their armor is cracked, their castle has been stormed, and unless there’s some wildfire stored somewhere under T-Mobile Arena, the battle might be over soon.

Last night, with their backs against the wall, the Knights fought valiantly to hold the line for a full 75 minutes.

That’s when the dragons finally woke up to the fight.

Despite holding off the Edmonton Oilers superstar tandem for a full 60 minutes, Vegas gave up four goals in regulation of the second game in a row and was still tied 4-4 through the first 15 minutes of overtime.

That’s when Connor McDavid set up Leon Draisaitl for the winning goal – the first point of the night for both.

Game over.

And potentially series over if the Golden Knights don’t figure out a way to keep up with the high-scoring Oilers, because they clearly can’t contain them.

Edmonton extended a Stanley Cup Playoffs record by securing a sixth straight comeback win.

The Oilers have scored nine goals in the first two games of the series, with Draisaitl and McDavid combining for only two of them.

Now the series shifts to Edmonton, where the Oilers averaged 5.7 goals per game and won all three games against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round.

McDavid is the new Conn Smythe Trophy favourite at FanDuel, while Draisaitl is now the third choice behind him and Mikko Rantanen.

The fact that 97 and 29 didn’t find the scoresheet until the extra frame and the Golden Knights still gave up five goals in a must-win game on home ice is a problem.

The Oilers are up to -550 to advance at FanDuel.

Edmonton has also re-emerged as the Stanley Cup favourite at +300.

With the Oilers hitting another gear this postseason, Canadian hockey fans are expecting at least one team from this country to advance to the conference finals.

Tonight, the other two remaining Canadian contenders can take an important step in that direction with a win.

This is Morning Coffee for Friday May 9th, 2025.

Maple Leafs Can Push Panthers To The Brink In Game 3

The Toronto Maple Leafs can back the Florida Panthers into a corner with a win in Game 3 tonight.

After back-to-back wins at plus-money on home ice, the Maple Leafs will be in familiar territory as the underdog once again in Florida.

Toronto opened +150 to win Game 3 and has since been bet all the way up to +195 at FanDuel.

The Panthers to bounce back and win Game 3 on home ice has been bet from -182 to -245.

Nobody expected the Maple Leafs to sweep the series when they opened with the longest odds to advance of the eight teams that reached the second round.

If they can push the defending Stanley Cup champions to the brink tonight, they’ll be in excellent shape with four chances to close out the series.

If Florida responds with a win tonight, the outlook will be very different heading into Game 4 on Sunday.

NHL teams that go up 2-0 on home ice in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series have advanced 88 per cent of the time.

However, Toronto is only -210 to advance at FanDuel this morning – a 67.7 per cent implied probability.

Whether it’s their recent postseason demons or an unwillingness to write off the defending champions until they lose a game on home ice, the Panthers are -245 to win tonight and +172 to win the series at FanDuel.

The fact that you can bet Florida to win the series at a shorter price than Toronto’s odds to win Game 3 tonight tells you all you need to know about the betting public’s perception, regardless of the first two games.

If the current number +195 holds or lengthens, it would be the longest odds the Maple Leafs would have to win a game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since Game 1 of their 2016 first round series against the Washington Capitals.

The city of Toronto is absolutely buzzing about the possibility of backing the Cats into a corner tonight.

I can’t wait to see whether the Maple Leafs can prove all of us that doubted them against the Panthers wrong.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets will try to avoid a 2-0 series deficit on home ice against the Dallas Stars.

At the very least, Connor Hellebuyck and company will try to prevent Mikko Rantanen from scoring another hat-trick.

After becoming the first player in NHL history with a single-period hat-trick in back-to-back playoff games, Rantanen is +175 to score and +6500 to record a hat-trick in Game 2.

Rantanen has also scored or assisted on an NHL record 12 straight goals for the Stars.

Rantanen 1+ point is -200.

The Jets to win Game 2 has been bet up from -110 to -120 to win over the past 36 hours.

With their odds to win the series already up to +260, Winnipeg is in must-win territory as they try to avoid going down 2-0 heading back to Dallas for Game 3.

Hopefully for Jets fans, there won’t be any more Mikko Magic to spoil the night.

A FanDuel Best Bet For Friday Night

In case you missed it, we had a pretty good night last night thanks in large part to Victor Olofsson.

Hopefully, we can finish in the green again tonight.

As for a FanDuel Best Bet, I’ll run it back with a builder Same Game Parlay that features Kyle Connor, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Mikko Rantanen to each register 2+ shots on goal in Game 2 at +102.

Rantanen has been on a tear, and after recording a single-period hat-trick in back-to-back games, I’m banking on him to get me at least two shots on goal tonight.

Meanwhile, the Jets are going to need their best scorers to step up, and it will be on Connor and Ehlers to get as many pucks on net as possible as they try to avoid a 2-0 series deficit.

Hopefully, that trio can deliver for us tonight.

Have a great day, everyone!