Free NHL Eastern Conference Playoffs Picks, Best Bets, and Parlays for 5/4/22

Last night the final 4 series kicked off and all Game 1’s are in the books. We had a massive surprise in Florida as the Capitals upset the highly favored Panthers and in triple overtime Pittsburgh outlasted the Rangers in another upset. Out West, Colorado and Calgary both won as expected. Tonight we have two more games in the East and two in the West as the playoff marathon continues.

We missed both of our Best Bets last night as Florida and the Rangers both were upset. That was definitely discouraging and lowered our Best Bet of the Day record to 47-31 since the All-Star Break.

We went an average 2-2 betting the MoneyLine last night and our overall record is 341-190 as the playoffs start.

The run for the Stanley Cup continues tonight with 4 more games on the schedule. Let’s see what Vegas is thinking about the 2 Eastern Conference games and see if we can get lucky.

*PAPA DUDES BEST BET* Boston at Carolina: Carolina leads the series 1-0: Game 1 went to Carolina but the 5-1 score was deceiving. Goaltender, Antti Raanta came up with 35 saves and was fantastic in the net for the Hurricanes. That was a promising start for Carolina which has lost in the playoffs to the Bruins two of the past three years. Carolina is a strong defensive team and are probably being overlooked by a lot of people. The Bruins played very well for two and a half periods and Taylor Hall’s goal cut it to 2-1 early in the 3rd period. Minutes later, he hit the post and came that close to tying the game which would have changed things dramatically. Carolina then regrouped and put the Bruins away late. I expect more of the same tonight. Tight-checking, physical, defensive minded hockey from two good teams. PAPA DUDES BEST BET: Bet the MoneyLine on the Carolina -120

Tampa Bay at Toronto: Toronto leads the series 1-0: It is hard to top how impressive the Maple Leafs were in their 5-0 pasting of the defending champions in Game 1. Auston Matthews scored 2 goals and goalie, Jack Campbell had 23 saves for his 2nd career shutout in the playoffs. The Leafs were faster, more physical, and skated Tampa out of the building. The Lightning were 0 for 5 on the power play which included a 5-minute major. It is hard to imagine Tampa to come out and not play much better tonight. They are simply too good and they are not going to be slapped around like that again. But, the lingering question is how good are the Leafs? We are going to find out tonight. PAPA DUDES PICK: Bet the MoneyLine on Toronto -135