Anaheim Ducks Have Slight Edge To Beat Edmonton Oilers in Second Round
Published on April 23rd, 2017 4:10 pm ESTWritten By: Dave Manuel
The first betting odds for the second round series between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks have just been released.
By virtue of their home ice advantage, the Ducks are slight favourites to move past the Oilers into the third round of the NHL playoffs. Here are the series betting odds as of this moment:
Anaheim Ducks, -140
Edmonton Oilers, +120
Despite the slight edge in odds for the Ducks in the second round, Las Vegas has both the Oilers and the Ducks at 5/1 to win the Stanley Cup at this point.
The Anaheim Ducks were impressive in putting away the Calgary Flames in four straight games in the opening round of the playoffs. The extra rest will be beneficial for the Ducks, as they have a much older team than the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers, on the other hand, took the next step in their evolution on Saturday night when they turned in a gritty effort to defeat the San Jose Sharks in six games. The story of the series was not Connor McDavid (though he was excellent, as always) - instead, it was the solid all-around play by the Oilers and the strong goaltending of Cam Talbot. Goaltending has been one of the major weak points for the Oilers over the past decade, and they finally seem to have found their man in Cam Talbot.
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The Ducks vs Oilers series really boils down to experience vs youth. The Ducks are led by the likes of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler, while the Oilers are led by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Cam Talbot.
The Oilers are being greatly bolstered by a home crowd that is overjoyed at the prospect of their team making a postseason run, as it has been hard times for the club over the past decade or so. After some pretty tough years, the Oilers overhauled their organization and finally seem to be on the right track.
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The winner of Anaheim/Edmonton will move on to face the winner of St. Louis/Nashville in the Western Conference finals.
