With the stage now set for a rematch of the 1970 Stanley Cup final, the Boston Bruins have emerged as an early favorite to claim their first title since 2011, sporting short -165 odds on the NHL series prices at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Boston will face the St. Louis Blues, who disposed of the San Jose Sharks with a 5-1 win in Game 6 of the Western Conference final on Tuesday and will be making their first Stanley Cup final appearance in 49 years when they take the ice for Monday night’s Game 1 matchup at TD Garden.
The Bruins struggled down the stretch, closing out the regular season with just seven wins in their final 14 outings, and carried that inconsistency into their opening-round clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs. With their offense sputtering, the Bruins were pushed to the brink of elimination by Toronto, but the club rebounded from a 3-2 series deficit to once again knock off the Maple Leafs.
The Bruins then fell behind 2-1 in their second-round clash with Columbus. However, Boston has been red-hot since, rebounding with three straight wins to get past the Blue Jackets before dominating in a four-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final, a series the club entered as -155 betting favorites.
It has been a tougher road to glory for the Blues, who return to the Stanley Cup final as +135 underdogs on the Stanley Cup odds. Buried at the bottom of the Western Conference standings as recently as January 2, the Blues have been the hottest team in the NHL since, closing out the regular season on a 29-10-5 run.
Lagging in the middle of the pack as a +1800 bet on the Stanley Cup odds at sports betting sites in late February, the Blues entered the playoffs as a +1200 wager before vaulting to +550 co-favorites after knocking off the Winnipeg Jets in six games in the first round.
The Blues needed seven games and a pair of wins while facing elimination to get past the Dallas Stars in the second round, and steadily gained momentum while overcoming an early deficit against an injury-plagued Sharks squad.
However, history may not be on the Blues’ side. St. Louis was swept in each of its three previous Stanley Cup final appearances, including when these two teams met in a memorable 1970 matchup which ended with Bobby Orr’s historic Cup-winning overtime goal in Game 4.
