Free NHL Western 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* Los Angeles at Edmonton: LA leads the series 1-0: Game 1 of this series went to the visiting Kings, as Phillip Danault capitalized on a mishandled puck by Edmonton goalie, Mike Smith, and scored the winning goal in a 4-3 LA win. The Oilers are in a must win situation in Game 2 tonight on home ice. They are going up against a Kings team that played a hard-checking, physical game and received excellent goaltending from Jonathan Quick who stopped 35 shots. They took advantage of a shaky start from the Oilers and grabbed an early 2-0 lead, making the big plays when they had too. Edmonton got good performances from their big guns, as Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist, while Leon Draisaitl scored a power play goal as well. They are facing the added pressure of being swept last year in the first round of the playoffs against Winnipeg, and if they lose Game 2 tonight they may be looking at a repeat. I’m going with the Oilers to get a much needed win tonight over the Kings. PAPA DUDES BEST BET: Bet the MoneyLine on the Edmonton -195

St.Louis at Minnesota: St.Louis leads the series 1-0: The Blues went into Minnesota and came away with a 4-0 win in Game 1. David Perron had a hat trick and an assist and Ryan O’Reilly added a goal and an assist to lead the Blues. But ,the real story of the night was the stellar play of St.Louis goaltender, Ville Husso. He was outstanding; stopping 37 Minnesota shots and earning a shutout in his 1st Stanley Cup Playoff start. Special teams were the other factor as the Blues had two power play goals as well as going 6 for 6 on the penalty kill. Meanwhile, in the Minnesota locker room it wasn’t all doom and gloom. They had plenty of opportunities and Husso had the answer to all of them. Even though the score ended up 4-0, it was a much closer game than that. I look for the Wild to have a big bounce back game tonight and even this series up. PAPA DUDES PICK: Minnesota