Morning Coffee: Marchessault emerges as Conn Smythe favourite at FanDuel

The Vegas Golden Knights are the seventh team to outscore their opponent by eight or more goals through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.

Each of the previous six went on to win it all.

The Golden Knights chased Sergei Bobrovsky with four goals on 13 shots in a 7-2 win over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night.

Bobrovsky, who held the Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes to two goals or fewer in every single start against them in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final and Final, was the betting favourite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel entering the Stanley Cup Final.

After allowing four goals in each of the first two games of the series, his odds to win the Conn Smythe Trophy have ballooned from +200 to +1300 at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, after delivering another strong performance in Game 2, there is a new favourite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel this morning.

This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday, June 6, 2023.

Marchessault emerges as Conn Smythe favourite At FanDuel

Jonathan Marchessault was +650 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel entering the Stanley Cup Final.

After helping Vegas jump out to a 2-0 series lead with three goals and four points in the first two games, Marchessault is now the favourite to win that award this morning at -115 at FanDuel.

Marchessault has scored 12 goals in his past 12 games, which matches a franchise record for the most in any 12-game span.

It was his third three-point game of the postseason.

Meanwhile, Adin Hill stopped 29 of the 31 shots that he faced in the victory.

Hill improved to 9-3 with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage this postseason.

Hill is now the second choice to win the Conn Smythe at +430 odds. Jack Eichel is the third choice at +600.

Teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final are 48-5 all-time and 38-3 when going up 2-0 at home.

After jumping out to a 2-0 series lead, Vegas is now -500 to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel this morning.

The Panthers are +400 to win four of the next five games.

Florida is currently a small favourite to win Game 3 on home ice at -118.

The total for Game 3 is set at 5.5 once again, and it should be no surprise that it’s juiced to the over at -130 right now.

While the Golden Knights have done the bulk of the damage, these teams have combined for an average of 8.0 goals per game in the first two games.

A FanDuel Best Bet for Tuesday night

After a red-hot finish to the month of May, I’ve served up some iced coffee in this column to start the month of June.

The most difficult aspect of this job is that you can nail a six-leg MLB parlay at 28-to-1 odds on Monday night and if that parlay doesn’t include the FanDuel Best Bet from my Morning Coffee column, it still feels bittersweet. 

As I highlighted in Monday’s column, I’ve already locked in the Denver Nuggets at -1.5 for Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.

For tonight’s MLB slate, I’m running it back with the No Run First Inning bet for the Kansas City Royals and Miami Marlins.

Once again, the Marlins have been very good to me overall this season, with one of the worst average runs scored in the first inning.

Tonight, we get a pair of starting pitchers that are a combined 21-3 to the NRFI this season.

Kansas City starter Zack Greinke is 10-2 to the NRFI. Miami’s starter Jesus Luzardo is 11-1 to the NRFI.

Both pitchers have gone five plus starts without giving up a run in the first inning.

I’ll lock in the NRFI in tonight’s game between the Royals and Marlins at -120 as my FanDuel Best Bet for Tuesday night.