The East and West conference finals begin this week as the four remaining sides are looking to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. Continue reading for our NHL Conference Finals Preview and Betting Tips.
San Jose Sharks v St Louis Blues
It has been a long time coming for one of these two teams to reach the Stanley Cup Final and they are each 4 wins away from doing just that. St Louis advanced after a tight 7-game series against the Dallas Stars to clinch a Conference Finals birth for the first time since 2001. San Jose were also pushed to 7 games to get over the line against the Nashville Predators, with a 5-0 Shut Out to sharks goaltender Martin Jones in the final match.
The year was 1970 the last time the Blues made it to the final two of the Play Offs, and will be looking for the form of forwards Vladimir Tarasenko (7 goals, 6 assists) and Robby Fabbri (3 goals, 10 assists) to continue against the strong defense and goal tending of the Sharks. San Jose have never made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their franchise history, so they will no doubt be feeling the pressure to take their hockey club to the next level. They had the edge on St Louis throughout the regular season, winning 2 of the 3 times they squared up against each other.
Each of these teams will need to push any and all advantages they can find and will be looking to avoid playing another full 7 game series before advancing to the Cup Final. The Sharks have had arguably the 'easier' first two round match-ups and may feel a bit more rested than the Blues, who have played the full 14 possible games so far. San Jose are in the best form in their clubs history and don't have any better time than now to make the Stanley Cup Final. Sharks to change their clubs history in 6 or 7 games.
TIP: San Jose - 2.14 @ SportsBet
Tampa Bay Lightning v Pittsburgh Penguins
With only 5 losing games between them so far in this years Play Offs, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh is shaping up to be a highly-skilled and possibly high scoring Conference Final. The Lightning have scored 30 goals in their 10 Play Off games thus far, but even with this statistic in their favour need to avoid getting into a goal-for-goal battle with the Penguins and their excellent 4-line forward depth.
These two teams do not have much post-season history with each other, having only met once in the Play Offs in 2011. That series went to the Lightning in 7 games, just as each of their regular season games have gone this season. Having said that, their last match-up was on February 20 and Pittsburgh are looking like a completely different team since then. Captain Sidney Crosby has lead his team almost perfectly through the first two Play Off rounds, even without hitting the scoring sheet much himself.
The match-up of the 2015 Eastern Conference Champions against the current most improved and in-form team of the Play Offs could seem like a coin flip to most viewers, which is a very understandable for this amazing series. Last year the Lightning fell short of taking the Cup back to Tampa Bay and unfortunately could be looking at the same fate this year against a Penguins team that looks like they can currently do no wrong. Take the Pens in a close Conference Final.
TIP: Pittsburgh - TBA
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