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00:00Well, four games on tap tonight, 7 o'clock, 7.30, 9.30, and 10 o'clock spread out across the board.
00:06And he looks, Tom, tonight on the ice for us.
00:09Let's get started with the early game, and that's going to be the Capitals-Canadians over 5.5.
00:14It was minus 1.30 yesterday.
00:16Really do like this spot, and, you know, we've seen a bit of scoring in a lot of these games early,
00:21whether it was one in Pagan St. Louis, we saw scoring between the Leafs and the Sens last night.
00:25I expect the Caps to win this game, call it 4-2, maybe 5-2, maybe that empty-and-air pushes things through,
00:31but I think we will be cruising towards the over for the majority of the game.
00:34And then we're going to see a point of resistance.
00:35If we do see it move to 6.5 from 5.5 for the next game, it may be 6.5, you know, minus 1.40 on the under.
00:41That's the spot I'll initially be looking, because I think that's where we should be seeing a little bit of scoring early,
00:45and then things come back to the norm, and then we'll start to see a lot of unders.
00:48Four of our five games to start off the Stanley Cup postseason this weekend saw at least six goals.
00:55Only one had five, and that means there was a ton of scoring there as well.
01:01Vecchio and I will look at the quadruple header of Stanley Cup playoff games on this Monday,
01:06but we've got to send Donnie now to the Moneyline.
01:09DRS have a wonderful time on the Moneyline.
01:12We'll talk tomorrow here on TEL.
01:14Vecchio and I round out the show with a focus on the ice.
01:18Up next.
01:20We round out our three hours together here on this Monday on the Early Line on SportsGrid
01:24with TV Tom Vecchio of SportsGrid, looking at our quadruple header of Stanley Cup playoff action
01:30on the ice on this Monday.
01:33Vecchio, what really stands out is the fact the Stanley Cup postseason also began on Saturday,
01:38but just with two games, and then we saw three games on Sunday,
01:42and tonight we have four games, two of which are the opening games of a set,
01:48and the other two are already game number two.
01:52Vecchio, as the hockey guy, how do we make sense of the Stanley Cup playoff schedule?
01:58I hate it.
01:59I hate it.
02:00It should have started Saturday, and it should have been 12-3-7-10 for four games on Saturday.
02:06Do that same thing on Sunday, roughly thereabout, and then maybe then you go to three games on Monday,
02:11three games on Tuesday, whatever it might be, add in the travel days after that.
02:14And then we're at this, you know, even cadence where we don't have Tampa and Florida
02:19are starting tomorrow on game one when we're going to have game twos wrapped up.
02:24I don't like it.
02:25Started on Saturday, four games on Saturday.
02:27You have the time to do so with essentially 12 hours the same way the NBA does.
02:32I don't like it.
02:33Yeah, it's very, very strange.
02:35There is a game one still tomorrow, even after two of our game twos will be in the books as of this Monday night.
02:43But anyway, Vecchio, let's look at the games that we have today.
02:46In our last segment with Donnie, you mentioned the Caps and that game pushing to the over.
02:52Caps and Canadiens over five and a half.
02:54Might Alexander Ovechkin, after making history with his goal scoring, continue that into the postseason.
03:01Of the other three games, Vecchio, what's your favorite play on this Monday?
03:06It's got to be the Blues and the Jets and let's just call it regression to the mean.
03:11And, you know, a lot of people like to talk about like the zigzag and especially in the playoffs.
03:14One game goes over, the next game goes under.
03:17One, you know, the underdog wins.
03:19Then the favorites can win the next game.
03:21Five and a half, under five and a half for Winnipeg and St. Louis.
03:23It is minus 144.
03:24I saw it at minus 135 at some point yesterday on in-game live.
03:29Way too many goals being scored.
03:31And the goals increase the variance.
03:33And especially when we have great goaltenders on both sides.
03:36With Jordan Bittenton for the Blues, kind of Hellbuck for the Jets.
03:40That's just not the style that they want to play or have played really at any point this season,
03:44turning these games into 5-3 outcomes.
03:46The Blues could very well win this game, but increasing the back-and-forth nature
03:51and trying to win a game 5-4, 5-3 is really not the route that they want to go about things.
03:56So I expect the goaltenders to return to form, obviously.
03:59Just the opening excitement of all games causes things to go over.
04:03Yeah, Jets won that game 1-5-3 up in Winnipeg.
04:06Of course, trying to avoid the President's Trophy curse.
04:09You would expect with Connor Hellbuck in net, a lower-scoring game.
04:13And yet, Winnipeg, a minus-5-30 favorite.
04:15Not only a hefty favorite tonight, but minus-5-30 to win the series.
04:20The Avs won game 1 against the Stars 5-1.
04:24Vecchio, Colorado, greater than a $3 favorite to win this series outright.
04:28Those are both game 2s.
04:30Our other Western Conference series beginning tonight is game number 1.
04:34Now, Vecchio, the Oilers are a favorite to win the series over the Kings
04:38around a minus-132 price in terms of that outright number.
04:42But tonight, as you see the Kings with home ice advantage, a minus-125 favorite.
04:48Total is 5-1-2.
04:50How do you make sense of the disparity?
04:52Edmonton, the series' favorite, but the Kings' favorite on home ice for the opening game.
04:57Home ice will give them, you know, that slight favorite in game 1, as you would expect.
05:01But a lot of people, and I assume the public money, would be going towards the Oilers at a certain point.
05:05But the Kings are winning this series, and it's going to take them 6 or 7 games.
05:08But they're going to get some revenge after losing to the Oilers multiple seasons in a row in the first round.
05:14The Kings will get through.
05:15They have a great team.
05:17I'm not going to say they have a superstar like they have with McDavid and Dryside on the other side.
05:20But the depth that the Kings have, combined with the injuries that the Oilers are dealing with,
05:25I think will put the Kings ahead.
05:26I don't know if they win game 1, but I expect them to make very solid changes throughout the series
05:31and, again, win in 6 or 7 games.
05:33This first game probably does go over.
05:35But then I think we are in for very clear unders, not just under 5.5.
05:39I'd be willing to take some alt under 4.5 at some point.
05:43Yeah, Vecchio, to your point, by the way, the last three postseasons in the Stanley Cup playoffs,
05:49the Oilers have knocked out the LA Kings in the opening round.
05:53Last year in only five games, of course, with a ton of expectation for Conor McDavid,
05:57Leon Dreisaitl, and Edmonton.
06:00We'll see what this holds.
06:01LA a favorite in game 1.
06:04Edmonton the favorite for the series at minus 132.
06:08Tom Vecchio, it is always a pleasure breaking things down with you.
06:12By the way, we talked about it during the break.
06:14Nick Castellanos to go yard today for reasons out there, I think, is a great, great look.
06:19Vecchio, enjoy the Monday, my friend.
06:21The jack-of-all-trades always delivers with that prop perspective.
06:26Thanks for being here.
06:27Of course.
06:28Thanks for having me.
06:28We'll look to the Devils goalie for saves in game 2.
06:33Ooh, I like that look, Vecchio.
06:35We'll do that tomorrow when the early line returns at 8 a.m. Eastern here on SportsCenter.