By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
For the serious fanatic, the casual fan or the diehard gambler with a futures ticket in a pocket, the Vegas Golden Knights series vs. the Colorado Avalanche now comes down to a best-of-three series.
That scenario arose after the VGK, powered by Jonathan Marchessault’s fourth career hat trick, squared the West Division final at two games each with a 5-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche late Sunday.
The Golden Knights paid bettors who had tickets that were generally about -115. Puck line bettors at around +240 fared considerably better. Over 5.5 came in for the second time in the second-round series.
“If we win as a group, it’s the most important thing,” Marchessault told reporters after the game. “And we’ve proven we can play with the best team in the league. We’re on a mission right now. We just have to keep going and focus on Game 5.”
Game 5 will be at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday. The early line has the VGK at +125 with the total again at 5.5.
Futures gamblers who bet the Golden Knights at about +175 before the series, around +350 after Game 1 and even higher after Game 2 have to be encouraged. So do bettors who bet the Knights to win the Stanley cup at the start of the season at about +750. Current odds are around +400.
“We’ve got work left to do, but we like where we’re at tonight,” coach Peter DeBoer told reporters.
Ditto for bettors.
Elsewhere:
— Riding the Aces? The Las Vegas Aces are an unremarkable 5-4-1 ATS after a 96-93 win on Saturday vs. the Washington Mystics in which they were -7.5 favorites. The over in their 10 games this season is 6-4. “We gutted this one out today. … All we want to do is crank out wins right now,” Aces coach Bill Laimbeer told reporters after the game. The Aces’ next game is a home date vs. the Dallas Wings on June 13.
— Shifting odds: With the Los Angeles Lakers making an inglorious first-round exit from the NBA playoffs, futures odds have shifted abruptly. The Brooklyn Nets are currently +160, the Utah Jazz +375 and the Los Angeles Clippers +500, according to Vegas Insider. It wasn’t that long ago, as noted in these posts, that the Jazz were as high as +1400.
— Close but no payday: Las Vegas Collin Morikawa made it interesting at the PGA’s Memorial Tournament at Dublin, Ohio, on Sunday. Morikawa faced Patrick Cantlay in a playoff after both finished at -13 in regulation. Morikawa had a 1-stroke lead after the 15th hole. Cantlay won when Morikawa’s par bid from 6 feet missed on the first hole of the sudden death playoff. Bettors found the 24-year-old Las Vegan as high as +1800 to win the tournament — a good bet considering he won the Workday Charity Open on the same golf course in 2020.
— Laugher of the week: If you played the Phoenix Suns -4.5 vs. the Los Angeles/LeBron Lakers last Tuesday, you enjoyed one of the laughers of the week. The Suns bolted to a 34-26 first-quarter lead, led at halftime, 56-36, and never looked back in routing the Lakers, 115-85. Who says NBA translates to No Betting Allowed?
— Laugher of the week, Part Deux: Also last Tuesday, The Philadelphia Phillies were +101 at the Cincinnati Reds. After falling behind, 2-0, the Phillies took the lead and added six runs in the sixth inning followed by three more in the eighth and four in the top of the ninth. The Phillies finally won it, 17-3. Those easy wins almost (but not quite) compensate for the nail-biters and “bad beats.”