The unlikeliest of matchups in Stanley Cup betting takes place in the Eastern Conference Finals as the Montreal Canadians face the Philadelphia Flyers. The Canadians are the 8th seed while the Flyers are the 7th seed. The Stanley Cup odds to win this series are a pick as oddsmakers really don’t know what to expect.
Stanley Cup betting should point to the Flyers since they have home ice advantage but Montreal has taken out Washington and Pittsburgh in the last two rounds of the playoffs so it is hard to go against them. During the regular season the Canadians and Flyers split their four games. Danny Briere led the Flyers with four goals in the season series. Scott Hartnell led the team with 4 assists. Goaltender Michael Leighton won both of his starts against Montreal with a 2.04 goals against average.
Defenseman Roman Hamrlik led the Canadiens with 5 assists while Tomas Plekanec added a goal and 2 assists in the season series. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak split his two starts against the Flyers and had 3.03 goals against average. In the season series the Flyers outscored the Canadians 10-8 and outshot them at 109-89. The Flyers were a paltry 2 for 15 on the power play while Montreal was 3 for 14.
The key matchup in this series in Stanley Cup odds is likely to be Montreal forward Mike Cammalleri against Philadelphia defenseman Chris Pronger. Cammalleri has been amazing with his 12 playoff goals. He is tied with Jean Beliveau and with two more he would tie Frank Mahovlich for most playoff goals by a Montreal player. He will be facing a very tough defenseman in this series in Chris Pronger. Even though the Capitals and Penguins have a lot of offense, neither of them had much defense. That will not be the case in this series. “I played against him in my time in L.A. and he was in Anaheim. It seemed like every shift was against him for eight games because he played 30 minutes a game,” said Cammalleri, He’s got presence. He’s big, strong and tough and he’s one of the best first passers there is. Pronger leads the Flyers in ice time in the playoffs with an average of 29 minutes and 39 seconds per game and he is tied for third on the Flyers in scoring with four goals and seven assists in 12 games.
The Canadians and Flyers last met in the playoffs in the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals that Philadelphia won in five games.