By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Ice hockey in the hellaciously hot temperatures of June?
Naturally.
Power up the Zamboni, chill the rink ice temperature down to about 24 degrees and let the battle for the Stanley Cup begin.
Game 1 on Wednesday matches two teams, the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning, that many fans and bettors were anticipating in the Stanley Cup Final. No disrespect intended to the Vegas Golden Knights and their oenophile owner Bill Foley after the VGK missed the playoffs for the first time in their five-year franchise history. Or bettors who thought the Golden Knights at +600 or so way back in September to win the Cup named for Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley was a savvy investment.
The Avalanche who were around +500 at the beginning of the season, are now generally -190 or -200 to hoist the nickel and silver alloy trophy that measures nearly a yard tall. The Lightning, around +700 at the season’s onset, are now generally anywhere from +155 to +160, according to a compilation of various betting sites at Covers.
As for Game 1, the Avalanche are around -160, the Lightning +140 and the total at 6 for the game at Ball Arena in Denver.
Somewhere Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, who was governor general of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston and the 16th Earl of Derby and who died in June some 114 years ago, is smiling at the hoopla and media buzz.
The puck drop is at 5 p.m.
Elsewhere:
— Aces riding high: Cash another ticket on the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday? The Mark Davis-owned team has been clicking for bettors and improved to 9-4 against the spread with a dominating 89-72 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Aces forward A’ja Wilson scored a season-high 35 points in the win.
The Aces led at halftime, 52-35, and won every quarter except the fourth in convincing style. They were 6.5-point favorites and covered by 10.5 points. The total was 15.5 points under the posted figure of 176.5.
“I’m having a blast,” first-year coach Becky Hammon told The Orange County Register after the game.
So are bettors.
The Aces (11-2) will next be at the Dallas Wings (6-7) on Wednesday.
— Pivotal NBA game: With the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics deadlocked at two games each, Game 5 of the NBA Finals is Monday.
The Warriors are -3.5 vs. the Boston Celtics and the total is generally around 211 for the game at the Chase Center in San Francisco. If you still fancy a futures play on what is now a best-of-three series, the consensus at Vegas Insider is Warriors -144 and Celtics +120.
On Sunday, Warriors coach Steve Kerr heaped generous praise on star Steph Curry. Speaking to reporters before Game 5, Kerr said, “Every day it’s the exact same thing. He’s in the training room, he’s in the weight room, he’s on the court. It’s clockwork, but there’s also a sense of joy and energy within that work.”
Tipoff is at 6 p.m.
— Laugher of the week: The New York Yankees were -213 vs. the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. After taking the first two games of the series, that looked like a comparatively cheap price. The Bronx Bombers lived up to their nickname in an 18-4 shelling of the Cubs. It could have been worse. Despite 17 base hits and four home runs, the Yankees stranded 18 runners.
“This offense is scary when they’re rolling like that,” Yankees starting pitcher Jameson Taillon told the New York Post.
The win paid on the money line, run line and the alternate run line (-2.5 runs).