The Montreal Canadiens were listed at +2800 to win the Stanley Cup at the start of the playoffs.

Now they are one win away from the Stanley Cup Final.

Montreal beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup semifinal on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 series lead.

Even when their series with Vegas was tied at 2-2, the Habs were completely overlooked as a legitimate Cup contender at +900 to win it all.

Not anymore. As of this morning, Montreal is +300 to win the Stanley Cup.

Here is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday June 23, 2021.

Habs one win away

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Eric Staal, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki all scored for the Canadiens in their Game 5 win. Carey Price made 26 saves.

The Habs improved to 10-0 this postseason when they score two goals or more.

They’ve won 23 straight when they’ve scored at least three goals.

While Price is the obvious MVP choice for Montreal, it’s impossible to overlook what their young forwards have done in these playoffs.

Suzuki, who had a goal and two assists in Game 5, is up to five goals and 13 points in 16 games.

Rookie Cole Caufield has three goals – all in this series – and eight points in 14 games.

Kotkaniemi has five goals in 15 games after he scored five goals in 56 games during the regular season.

For as good as Price has been, the Habs wouldn’t be where they are now if it wasn’t for those young forwards producing throughout these playoffs.

Keep in mind, two of those three forwards weren’t even in the Canadiens’ lineup for Game 1 of their first-round series’ against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In addition to their Stanley Cup odds getting shortened to +300, the Habs are also a favourite to win their series with Vegas for the first time.

Montreal is -175 to advance.

Vegas, which entered Game 1 as the biggest Stanley Cup semifinal favourite in 32 years at -475 to win the series - and was -1000 after its Game 1 win - is now +155 to advance.

Suns win thriller to go up 2-0 on Clippers

The Phoenix Suns (-185) stunned the Los Angeles Clippers with a last-second basket for the 104-103 win in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Phoenix trailed by one when Paul George went to the free-throw line to shoot two with 8.2 seconds left on the clock.

Instead of extending the Clippers’ lead to three, George missed both free throws and left the door wide open for the Suns to steal the win in the dying seconds.

With 0.7 of a second left on the clock, Ayton threw down an inbounds pass at the rim for the go-ahead basket.

Ayton, who finished with 24 points, matched a season-high with 22 points in the paint.

Phoenix has now won nine straight playoff games dating back to the opening round against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Suns are 9-2 all-time when leading 2-0 in a playoff series.

On the flip side, the Clippers have come back from down 2-0 in each of the first two rounds of the playoffs.

As of this morning, Phoenix is -800 to win the series – Los Angeles is +550 to come back from down 2-0 for the third series in a row.

England, Croatia advance at Euro 2020

England and Croatia are moving on to the knockout stage at Euro 2020.

Raheem Sterling scored the lone goal in England’s (-220) 1-0 win over the Czech Republic on Tuesday to win Group D with seven points.

England didn’t concede a single goal in the group stage.

The Three Lions were -275 to win Group D.

Meanwhile, Croatia (+150) advances as the second-place team in Group D following a 3-1 win over Scotland after scoring more goals than the Czech Republic, which they matched in the standings with four points.

Croatia was -300 to reach the Round of 16.

Bill C218 passes in the Senate

It’s been a long time coming, but betting on single-game sports events is about to become legal in Canada.

Bill C-218, a private member’s bill to amend the Criminal Code to allow single-game sports betting in Canada, passed in the Senate on Tuesday.

Now the bill will receive Royal Assent as the final step to become law.

Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, who introduced the bill, and Conservative Senator David Wells, who sponsored the bill in the upper house, both played integral roles in getting the bill passed.