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Horse Racing Carolina Hurricanes vs New Jersey Devils Best Bet: Game 2 Showdown
Carolina Hurricanes vs New Jersey Devils Best Bet: Friday, May 5th
The Carolina Hurricanes earned an impressive Game 1 win over New Jersey on Wednesday night, and now the pressure is on the Devils to climb back into the series chasing a road win for Game 2. The home team arrives at Game 2 as slight favourites, but our resident pucks expert Ej Garr has his eyes on the total to end the week.
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Carolina Hurricanes vs NJ Devils Preview
May 6th, 2:00 (UK time)
The Canes dismantled the Devils on Wednesday, 5 – 1, and now New Jersey has the pressure on them to not leave Carolina down 0 – 2 in this second-round battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup. After a big Game 7 shutout win for the Devils against the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs, Akira Schmid had no answer for the Canes. After allowing an early third goal, Schmid was pulled from the game just one minute into the second frame, and that finally gave Vitek Vanacek a chance to get back between the pipes.
Vanacek held his own only allowing one goal from 37 minutes on the ice, and now that means that Lindy Ruff will have to make some decisions on his netminder situation going forward.
The next issue for New Jersey comes on offense, as they only mustered up a total of 18 shots in Game 1, and Frederik Anderson stopped all but one of them. That is simply never going to get things done and the Canes did a great job of staying out of the penalty box and limiting opportunities against Jersey in Game 1.
I think a lot of us were shocked to see Anderson in the net for Game 1, as Rod Brind’Amour has seemingly lost confidence in Antii Raanta who lost two of his last three starts before Anderson started the final game of the series with the Islanders.
As we look over the lines for Game 2, Carolina is barely favored at 1.83 while the Devils are getting even money on the Moneyline offer. The game total is only 5.5 and the line setters have left us room on the Over side of that action showing 2.17 if you are a Pinnacle user. I see a tremendous amount of value in the expectation of another relatively high-scoring affair because I now have no confidence in either goalie that Jersey will put on the ice going forward.
Vanacek is a liability and Schmid’s confidence has gone to hell now after being pulled in two of his last 3 starts despite the Game 7 win over the Rangers. If New Jersey plans on trying to get back in this series they will have to take a lot more than 18 shots in Game 2, but is their offense good enough to do it against a tough Carolina defense?
Carolina’s penalty-killing unit is about the best there is in all of the NHL, and since the playoffs began the Canes have only allowed 2 power-play goals from 21 chances down a man.
Carolina Hurricanes vs NJ Devils Best Bet
If the line setters want to leave us enough value at 2.17 to expect 6 more goals in Game 2, why would I argue with them about it? I love offering bets with plus-money attached to the action and this line puts me in a position to do it again. You know me!!
- Selection: Over 5.5 Goals
- Best odds: 2.17 (Pinnacle)
- Stakes: 4/10
Odds as of 9:00 am May 5, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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