Morning Coffee: Will Maple Leafs avoid the sweep in Florida?

Nine days ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs were the favourite to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel.

Tonight, they’ll attempt to avoid a four-game sweep in the second round.

Despite being the betting favourite to win each of the first three games, Toronto is staring down a 3-0 deficit in the series.

The Maple Leafs’ quest to become just the fifth team in NHL history to recover from a 3-0 deficit to win the series begins tonight as a -120 money line favourite to win Game 4 on the road against the Florida Panthers.

Teams that take a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoff round are 199-4 all-time.

However, Toronto’s odds to advance have actually shortened at FanDuel over the past 72 hours.

The Maple Leafs could be found as long as +760 to advance following their Game 3 loss in Florida, but that number has been bet down to +630 at FanDuel this morning.

Can this Toronto team shock the hockey world and win four straight games to advance?

It’s possible, but it would take substantially better odds for me to even consider betting on it.

This is the Morning Coffee for Wednesday May 10, 2023.

Will Maple Leafs avoid sweep in Florida?

The Maple Leafs are a -120 money line favourite for Game 4. The Panthers are +100 to end the series on home ice tonight.

Florida has won each of the first three games of the series at +155, +168 and +134 odds.

If you bet $100 on the Panthers to win Game 1, then rolled over your winnings and bet on them to win Game 2 and Game 3, then you’d be up $1,599.16 right now.

Despite their recent playoff struggles, Toronto remains a very public team, which means that you could often find value betting on their opponents at this time of year.

For example, despite being completely outplayed through three periods and being down to their third-string goalie on the road, the Maple Leafs were a small favourite to win Game 3 live at FanDuel entering overtime.

Florida is once again the underdog for tonight’s game.

If they lose, the Panthers will certainly be an underdog to win a potential Game 5 on the road on Friday night.

How many bettors have considered applying a Martingale approach with Florida moving forward in this series?

As someone who bet the Panthers as an underdog live at FanDuel entering overtime in Game 3, I’ll strongly consider it as a means to bet Florida to close out the series.

Elsewhere, the Edmonton Oilers will look to avoid a 3-1 series deficit in Game 4 tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights.

After dropping Game 1 on the road, Edmonton bounced back with a dominant 5-1 win in Game 2.

Will we see a similar response from the Oilers tonight?

Edmonton is a -184 money line favourite to even the series at 2-2 with a win on home ice.

Will Lakers close out Warriors in Game 5?

The Los Angeles Lakers could be found as high as 130-to-1 to win the NBA championship at FanDuel back in late November.

LA was 55-to-1 to win the title at the start of March.

Two months later, the Lakers are the third choice to win the NBA championship at +370 at FanDuel this morning.

Tonight, L.A. will get its first opportunity to clinch its second round series against the defending NBA champs on the road in Game 5.

The Lakers won Game 3 and Game 4 on their home floor, but they’re currently a seven-point underdog for Game 5 on the road against the Golden State Warriors tonight.

Meanwhile, the Miami Heat can also advance with a win on the road in Game 5 against the New York Knicks tonight in their series.

Miami is also an underdog to win tonight, although it’s at a much shorter number laying 3.5.

A FanDuel Best Bet for Wednesday night

If you read this column every morning and tail my best bets, then you know that the NBA playoffs have been very good to us of late.

We started the week with a bet on the Heat to cover as a four-point favourite in a 109-101 win over the Knicks on Monday night.

Then last night, we cashed both of our NBA Same Game Parlays for Game 5 between the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets at -119 and +139.

We’re 3-0 to start the week and 7-1 with the FanDuel Best Bets featured in this column dating back to last Wednesday.

So, let’s try to stay hot with another winner tonight.

I’m going to lock in another NBA same game parlay for Game 5 between the Heat and Knicks.

Jalen Brunson has scored 20+ points in all nine playoff games, including 32 points in a Game 4 loss.

Meanwhile, Julius Randle over 8.5 rebounds was a sweat for me on Monday night, but it ultimately cashed as he got to nine before fouling out.

Randle is finally healthy for the Knicks, and he’s registered 12, 14 and 9 rebounds in his last three games.

Will those two players respond in a must-win situation at home?

I’ll take a FanDuel Same Game Parlay with Brunson 20+ points along with Randle 8+ rebounds at -120 as my FanDuel Best Bet for Wednesday night.

Hopefully, we can extend the perfect start to the week with another winner.