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Game 1 - posted at 12:30 PM EST.

8:00 PM EST. Since the 1967 expansion season, the top two teams in the league have played just one time before the third round and that was last year when the Penguins took on the Capitals in Round 2, which goes to show how unbalanced this division playoff format is. Also, rather than re-seed like it had prior, the NHL decided it was much more important to market to the "bracket culture" created by the NCAA Tournament. Commissioner Gary Bettman will say it's all about creating stronger division rivalries, but follow the dollar signs and you'll get the real answer. There was a reason the NHL went to a 1-to-8 conference format in the 1990s. Gretzky's Oilers dominated the old Smythe Division and some very good Winnipeg and Calgary clubs never got much further than the first or second round before they had to go stride-for-stride with one of the NHL's most famous dynasties.

Nashville doesn't yet have the hardware, but they did finish first in the league to win the Presidents Trophy. It was a big turnaround from last year's eighth-seeded team that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, but with the top spot comes much higher expectations. Maybe that's why the Preds got all they could handle from the plucky Avalanche, who for five games went shot-for-shot with the league's top team. Only in Game 6 did the wheels come off the wagon for Colorado. Until that point, the Avs had just as many high danger scoring chances as Nashville. Playoff pedigree matters in the market and the Preds were penciled in many brackets to make it all the back to the finals. However, we stand by our assertion that this squad is overvalued and overrated. Nashville's defense has been praised by many as the best in the league, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The Avs exposed the Preds backend, especially on the rush. Nashville's defense core is far more interested in scoring goals than helping to stop them. The Preds take more shots from the point than most teams, but the Jets allowed opponents to recover the third fewest rebounds in the league. If Nashville plays the same style against Winnipeg with their defense dictating the pace of their offense, this could be a very short series. At the end of the day, goaltending will decide who comes out on top here and we still do not trust Pekka Rinne. The Preds were vulnerable down the stretch recording just nine wins over their last 16 games. Don't forget last year when Rinne was lights outs against the Blackhawks, but then became a liability, as he hit the wall and his save percentage free fell to just .888 in the finals.

On the other side of the ice, enter Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck who was really, really good against the Wild. His solid performance was mostly lost though, as the Jets swarmed Minnesota at nearly every turn. Winnipeg dominated puck possession and had way more high danger scoring chances than Minnesota. While home ice might count for something, it's not enough for the Jets to be priced in this range when they are arguably the better team top to bottom. They have the best player on the ice and perhaps the two best lines. The Jets have depth with five players that scored 20 or more goals this season. Unlike the Preds, who were not sharp down the stretch, the Jets took off at the right time winning 11 of their final 12 regular season games and riding that momentum to a 4-1 series win over the Wild. The trade deadline acquisition of Paul Stastny was a game changer and he looks revitalized with Patrik Laine on his wing. This is the highest profile spot the Jets have been in but outside of Canada, nobody knows or cares about Winnipeg. That suits us just fine, as the Jets are being undersold here once again. The Jets have no weaknesses, they have that all-important first series win lifting a weight off their shoulder, they have one of the top three goaltenders in the game and they are loaded with talent and depth at the all-important center position. Nashville is good but they’re the second best team in this series with the second best goaltending. That’s more than enough ammo for us to move in hard. 

NOTE: We will also be playing this series on a game by game basis regardless of this future bet as we see fit. In other words, we’re not going to allow any series bets to influence individual game wagers.

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