Free NHL Western Conference Playoffs Picks, Best Bets, and Parlays for 5/20/22

Last night, saw the Tampa Bay Lightning shut down the vaunted Florida Panthers offense for the 2nd night in a row. They scored the game winner with 4 seconds left and the Lightning head back to Tampa with a 2-0 series lead. In Colorado, St.Louis bounced back from a poor Game 1 performance and upset the Avalanche to even their series at 1-1. Tonight, the Rangers and the Oilers will try and get road wins at Carolina and Calgary as the 2nd round continues.

We missed our Best Bet last night as we picked Colorado to beat the Blues. That’s a bet I don’t mind missing as the Blues are my team. Our Best Bet of the Day record is now 57-40 since the All-Star Break.

We went 0-2 betting the MoneyLine as both St.Louis and Tampa Bay pulled off upsets. Our overall record is now 371-209 as the playoffs continue.

The run for the Stanley Cup continues today with 2 more games on the schedule. Let’s see what Vegas is thinking about the Edmonton-Calgary Game 2 matchup.

*PAPA DUDES BEST BET OF THE DAY* Edmonton at Calgary: Calgary leads the series 1-0: The one thing we can count on tonight, is we won’t see a game like we saw on Wednesday. Calgary stormed out to a 6-1 lead midway through the 2nd period, only to see the Oilers score the next 5 goals to tie the game at 6-6. The Flames somehow regrouped, and scored the last 3 to win a 9-6 shootout. Edmonton has to be kicking themselves for losing a game on the road when they put 6 pucks in the net. That is not likely to happen again. Edmonton goalie, Mike Smith was pulled in the first period after giving up 3 goals on 10 shots, including two in the first minute of the game. Back-up Mikko Koskinen wasn’t much better in relief. But, rather than blaming the goaltending, the failure of the back line defensemen is the more pressing issue. Calgary had 47 shots in a regulation game and that is simply not good enough. The bright side for Edmonton is the resolve they showed by rallying from the 6-1 deficit and their offensive prowess gives them a chance to bounce back. Connor McDavid continues to shine as he had a goal and 3 assists and Zach Hyman scored 2 goals as well. Meanwhile, Calgary has got to be feeling pretty lucky to have escaped with a win. That would have been a huge embarrassment if they had lost, after leading 6-1 at home. Matthew Tkachuk had the hat trick with his 3-goal night, and they have to feel good about scoring 9 times, after scoring only 15 goals in seven games against Dallas. Tonight, both teams are going to try and shore up their defense and we should see a much tighter checking game. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up 2-1 or 3-2. I’m sticking with the Flames because I think they are just a better overall team that the Oilers. PAPA DUDES BEST BET: Bet the MoneyLine on the Flames -175