NHL Playoff Picks for Saturday, May 6 – NHL Betting

The second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is underway with only one game on the schedule for Saturday, May 6. But it’s a good one with two of the top teams in the Western Conference battling in Game 2 of their series. The Vegas Golden Knights collected the most points in the West during the season with 111 while the Edmonton Oilers tied for the second-most with 109. Little separates the teams and that was evident in Game 1 with Vegas pulling out a 6-4 victory iced by Jack Eichel’s empty-netter. With one game on the docket plenty of time can be spent handicapping the teams and it’s also a perfect time to lay down several bets on a same-game parlay with goals a smart play. The teams combined for 10 goals on Wednesday night and averaged nearly 8½ goals in five games this season with the OVER 4-0-1.

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NHL Playoff Schedule for Saturday, May 6

Edmonton at Vegas, 7 p.m. ET (TNT)

NHL Betting Picks for Saturday, May 6, 2023

If the rest of the series is anything like Game 1 hockey fans are in for a treat. The Pacific Division rivals battled four times during the regular season with the Oilers winning three. Some would argue they could have gone either way, though. The first three matchups all ended with a score of 4-3 with two of those going to overtime. Edmonton won the final game of the series 7-4 and the losing team scored at least three goals in every game.

You expect fireworks on offense from Edmonton since they led the NHL during the regular season with 325 goals, 20 more than second-best Boston. Even when teams try their darndest to clamp down on MVP? Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl the two still produce points at a high level. Draisaitl was on fire in Game 1 netting all four goals while McDavid tallied a pair of assists.

McDavid ran away from his teammate for the regular season scoring title amassing 64 goals and 153 points. Draisaitl finished with 128 points and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was the team’s third 100-point scorer with 104. There were 11 players who reached triple-digits in points during the season. They cashed the OVER in 63 percent of their games that didn’t push the total.

The wide open style also sacrifices defensive responsibilities allowing for quality chances by the opponents. The Oilers got stellar goaltending from Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell down the stretch allowing them to win their last nine regular season outings and 14 of 15. The lone setback in that stretch was to Vegas. We’ve seen the duo return to pre-streak numbers and the relentless attack of Vegas was the difference in Game 1.

With five different players scoring, the golden Knights showed off their depth. While that might be a factor over the entire series it will also be looked at on a game-by-game basis. The good news for Vegas is that their top scorers were involved. Mark Stone, Chandler Stephenson and Jack Eichel were among the goal scorers. Ivan Barbashev and Michael Amadio also scored. Seven different players have scored multiple goals this postseason.

The Game 1 loss was Edmonton’s first in regulation since March 11 so I guess it had to happen eventually. And seeing that the clubs are so closely related in a number of categories I certainly didn’t expect a sweep from either side. One thing that’ll help cash the OVER in this game is Edmonton’s power play. They were 2 of 3 with the man advantage on Wednesday and are clicking at a ridiculous 57.9 percent clip. They tallied at least one PPG in all seven playoff games after leading the league at 32.4 percent during the season.

Another bet on the same-game parlay would be backing McDavid in a prop to score a goal. More than one comes with a better payout, but I won’t get greedy. As mentioned McDavid scored 64 during the season to lead all players but has just three goals in seven playoff games. You could say McDavid is due and I’ll even bet on it.

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