Morning Coffee: Are the Oilers worth a play at 13-1 to win the Stanley Cup?

The Edmonton Oilers are considered a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

In fact, only one Western Conference team has shorter odds to win it all at FanDuel.

With a 5-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night, Edmonton improved to 12-4-1 over its past 17 games.

The Oilers are now five points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division with one more game played entering tonight’s head-to-head showdown.

At this point, we all understand what makes Edmonton a legitimate contender in the West.

Are the Oilers worth a play at 13-to-1 to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel?

While I respect their potential, I’m still not rushing to bet on Edmonton to win it all at that number. 

This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday March 28, 2023.

Are the Oilers a good bet to win the Stanley Cup at 13-1?

Anyone who has bet on hockey for long enough understands how to wager on Edmonton right now.

The Oilers have gone over their team total at FanDuel in seven of their past eight games.

At the same time, Edmonton has allowed three goals or more in five straight and seven of their past eight.

Heading into last night’s contest, I got a few texts from friends confirming the approach to betting on last night’s game.

Take the Oilers’ team total over 3.5 goals. Take the Coyotes’ team total over 2.5 goals.  

Both of those bets cashed at FanDuel.

Leon Draisaitl recorded a goal and an assist, Connor McDavid picked up his 140th point of the season, and the Oilers cruised to the 5-4 win over the Coyotes.

We all know that Edmonton has the firepower to compete with any team in the league. The question is whether or not they can slow down their opponents enough to win games come playoff time.

Personally, I’m not rushing to bet on Edmonton to win it all at FanDuel.

At the same time, I’m looking forward to seeing what McDavid and the Oilers are capable of doing come playoff time.

They’ll face another tough test tonight against the Golden Knights in the second half of a back-to-back.

I’m sure I’ll be getting a few more texts about playing the over on both the Edmonton and Vegas team totals.

Brady leads Senators to win over Matthew’s Panthers

In the highly anticipated battle of the brothers, it was Brady Tkachuk who led the Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers with a goal and an assist.

Tkachuk, who was +950 to score the first goal at FanDuel, has now scored in eight straight games.

Matthew Tkachuk hit the cross bar but was held without a point for the first time since March 7.

With the victory, Ottawa climbed back within five points of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot with eight games remaining.

Meanwhile, the Panthers remained three points back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for that final wild-card spot with eight games to go.

Elsewhere, the New York Islanders moved two points closer to clinching a playoff spot with a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.

NHL favourites went 3-3 on Monday night, with upsets by the Senators, Islanders, and the Montreal Canadiens.

Jokic, Nuggets beat Sixers without Embiid

Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic were on a collision course entering Monday night.

First of all, they’re the top two choices to win the NBA regular season MVP award at FanDuel.

Second, they were on a literal collision course with the Philadelphia 76ers in town to visit the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, until they weren’t.

On Monday afternoon, the Sixers ruled out Embiid for the game in Denver due to a calf injury.

NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins didn’t like it at all.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, we found out later in the evening that James Harden wouldn’t play.

Denver closed as a nine-point favourite at FanDuel.

What was initially billed as a showdown between MVP frontrunners turned into a bit of an afterthought in which Jokic and the Nuggets beat the Sixers 116-111.

Jokic finished with 25 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists for another triple-double in the victory.

It didn’t take long for FanDuel to cut Jokic from +240 to +120 to win the MVP award.

While Embiid remains the betting favourite at +105, the gap between the top two choices has certainly narrowed.

Still, if you bet on Philly to cover the closing number at FanDuel, you cashed that bet.

With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, it will be very interesting to see how the NBA MVP situation plays out.

NBA favourites went 7-1 straight up on Monday night but just 5-3 against the spread.