Livetipsportal offers you its pronostics for tonight's matchups, the last two games of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs 2009, featuring Rangers@Capitals and Hurricanes@Devils.
Washington Capitals – New York Rangers
Series: tied at 3-3
A series full of surprises since game 1 makes this game 7 pretty hard for a pronostic. I'll go for the Rangers for 3 reasons. Firstly, the goalies. Henrik Lundqvist has been brutal in his past two games, and that's highly unusual to him. I expect him to bounce back for game 7, and bounce back strongly. On the other hand, young Semen Varlamov will play in his first ever game 7. Will the 21 years old kid handle the pressure? Second reason: the experience. It can be a key factor in such a game, and the Rangers cleanly have the edge in this department. Last reason: the odds. It's nearly impossible to tell who'll win in a game 7 situation. If the teams are at game 7, they are pretty even and everything can happen with nearly the exact same possibility. So betting a small amount on the highest odd can sometimes be the best decision, especially there...
Choice: New York Rangers, with an odd of 4.00 at Expekt
New Jersey Devils – Carolina Hurricanes
Series: tied at 3-3
The tightest series of this first round. The Devils dominated in game 1, while the Canes dominated in game 6. The four other games have been decided by just one goal. Two of those games went to overtime, while another one had its game-winning goal in the very last second of regulation time. Hard to make it tighter. Hard to make a pronostic with it too. However, i won't use the highest odd strategy here. A sum of elements make me think that the Devils will get it. Firstly, they'll play at home. Secondly, if Brodeur and Ward have been excellent in goal so far, Brodeur has a greater experience of game 7 situations, and even won some when the title was on the line. Third point, Carolina has never won a series after trailing 3 games to 2. They had this situation 9 times in their history (including the time when the team was called the Hartford Whalers), and they always lost the series. None of those elements are game-breakers all by themselves, but all combined it makes me think that the Devils will win tonight. Be cautious with your bet though...
Choice: New Jersey Devils, with an odd of 2.30 at Expekt
