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The Stanley Cup drought continues for Canada.

For the 30th straight season, it will not be a Canadian team that wins the Stanley Cup.

With a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 on Sunday night, the Vegas Golden Knights won their series 4-2 to advance to the Western Conference Final.

The Golden Knights are the third franchise in NHL history to advance to the round before the Stanley Cup Final at least four times within their first six seasons, joining the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.

Meanwhile, the Oilers followed the Toronto Maple Leafs as the final two Canadian teams eliminated from this year’s playoffs.

Exactly one week ago, Toronto and Edmonton were the top two choices to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel.

Now it’s the Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas and the Florida Panthers listed as the top three choices to win it all in that order, with one more Game 7 tonight to determine the final team to advance to the Conference Finals.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday May 15th, 2023.

Stars A Heavy Favourite For Game 7 Versus Kraken

NHL series favourites went a combined 7-1 in the first round of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Seattle Kraken knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche at +225 to win the series.

It was the only official upset of the first round.

There have already been more upsets in the second round, as the Golden Knights and Panthers advanced at +120 and +136 to win their respective series’ at FanDuel.

 

Meanwhile, the Kraken will have the opportunity to make it 3-1 for the series underdogs with a win over the Dallas Stars in Game 7 tonight.

Seattle was +152 to win its second round series at FanDuel.

Now that it’s down to a winner-take-all, the Kraken actually have longer odds to advance than they did at the beginning of the round as a +176 money line underdog for Game 7 in Dallas tonight.

 

In order to advance, Seattle will need to become just the seventh team in NHL history to win multiple Game 7s on the road in a single postseason.

Meanwhile, the Stars are looking to capitalize on home-ice advantage as a -215 money line favourite.

Head coach Peter DeBoer is 6-0 all-time in Game 7s.

Home teams are 112-81 (.580) all-time in Game 7s in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

 

It’s also notable that we did finally see a move on the total at FanDuel, which is up from over/under 5.5 goals last night to over/under 6.5 goals this morning.

The over 5.5 goals hit in each of the first six games of the series.

After initially posting the same number for Game 7, FanDuel has finally pushed it to 6.5, although it’s currently juiced to the under at -138 this morning.

Celtics A Heavy Favourite Versus Heat In Eastern Conference Finals

Jayson Tatum set a Game 7 record with 51 points as the Boston Celtics eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers with a 112-88 win on Sunday.

Tatum became just the fifth player in NBA history with 50 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a playoff game.

He outscored the 76ers 17-10 by himself in the third quarter.

 

The stage is set for the Eastern Conference Finals, with the second-seeded Celtics set to face the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in a lopsided match-up on paper.

Boston is currently -500 to win the series at FanDuel.

Miami is +400 to advance.

Meanwhile, it’s déjà vu as the four remaining teams are the same final four from the 2020 NBA bubble.

In the Western Conference, it’s a much tighter match-up on paper, despite the fact that the Denver Nuggets are the No. 1 seed and the Los Angeles Lakers needed the play-in tournament just to get into the dance.

The Nuggets are -150 to advance to the NBA Finals.

 

The Lakers are +130 to pull off another series upset after beating the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors in six games in the conference semi-finals.

It’s the first time in NBA postseason history that both a seven and an eight-seed have gone this far in the playoffs.

Three FanDuel Best Bets To Consider

We cashed another FanDuel futures bet late last week after I recommended a play on the Heat at -115 to win their series against the New York Knicks when they were tied 1-1 with the series headed back to Miami.

With the third round set to begin on Tuesday night, I’m locking in another NBA playoff future hoping to move to 3-0 with my series predictions for the association.

I locked in the Nuggets to beat the Lakers at -120.

That number moved all the way to Denver -150 over the weekend, and while I don’t love the juice, I’d still lock in the Nuggets as my FanDuel Best Bet to win the series.

Nikola Jokic absolutely dominated the Phoenix Suns, and while he’s set to face a much tougher match-up versus Anthony Davis, it’s a perfect opportunity for him to rise to the occasion and showcase just how special he can be.

Jamal Murray has really stepped in this year’s playoffs to create the perfect 1-2 punch for Denver.

With Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown and even Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all averaging double-digit point totals in this year’s playoffs, the Lakers’ No. 1 defence will have a hard time slowing the Nuggets down, especially at altitude.

While it won’t be as easy as it looked in Game 6 against the Phoenix Suns, I think the Nuggets should be able to take care of their business and advance to the NBA Finals.

I’ll take Denver to win the series at -150 at FanDuel.

Next, I’ll lock in my first NFL futures bet of the season late last week, and I like it enough to recommend it in this morning’s column.

 

I like the New England Patriots to go under 7.5 wins at +100 at FanDuel.

The Patriots won eight games in 2023.

Here is a list of the quarterbacks they beat: Mitch Trubisky, Jared Goff, Jacoby Brissett, Sam Ehlinger, Colt McCoy, Teddy Bridgwater and Zach Wilson twice.

Despite getting to face that list of quarterbacks, New England finished with eight wins.

The Patriots are expected to face a much tougher schedule this year, including in an improved AFC East with Aaron Rodgers replacing Wilson in New York.

For as much as I respect Bill Belichick and what he’s accomplished in New England, I’ll lock in New England under 7.5 wins at even-money as my first FanDuel futures bet of the 2023 NFL season.

Finally, I’ll lock in a FanDuel Best Bet for Monday night.

Shohei Ohtani is the favourite to win the American League MVP at +105 and the third choice to win the AL Cy Young at +480 at FanDuel this morning.

This afternoon, he’ll get the nod for the Los Angeles Angels opposite Grayson Rodriguez for the Baltimore Orioles, who has posted a 7.71 ERA in two starts in the month of May.

The Orioles’ offence has struggled of late, so I’m banking on that trend continuing versus a top-three choice to win the AL Cy Young with this bet.

I’ll take the Angels first five money line at -140 at FanDuel.