Bruins’ Hot Streak Catching Attention Of Las Vegas Sportsbooks
Boston's stock continues to rise in Sin City
The Boston Bruins are co-favorites to win the Stanley Cup at one Las Vegas sportsbook.
That is not a typo.
After Sunday night's 7-3 shellacking of the Philadelphia Flyers in Lake Tahoe, the Westgate SuperBook shortened the B's odds to +600 to hoist Lord Stanley at the end of the season. The SuperBook also has Colorado Avalanche at +600, meaning a $100 bet wins $600 and pays out $700 on either team.
"Boston was solidly supported for the Cup early on," SuperBook vice president of risk management Jeff Sherman told NESN. "But we thought they would struggle out of the gate without (David) Pastrnak. With this strong start, we were very quick to adjust their chances."
The Bruins have raced out to an incredible 11-3-2 start and they've picked up at least one point in 13 of 16 games. Point differential is one of my favorite stats in sports and Boston (+15) has the only positive number in the entire East division. The Flyers and New York Islanders have the next best point differential at 0.
Two weeks ago, longtime Las Vegas oddsmaker Dave Sharapan was adamant that nobody would want to face the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He was also not surprised at all by their incredible start out of the gate.
?They are dangerous,? Sharapan told NESN on February 12. ?They?re finally getting healthy in the forward group and we still haven?t seen them at full strength with all their guys. That goalie combination is superb and the younger guys are really stepping up on the blue line.?
Sportsbooks set and move their own odds in the future book and they balance these odds based off of liability and respect. Money wagered is the great equalizer, but if a book truly believes a team can make a deep run, they can shorten the odds to get ahead of the curve.
The last thing a bookmaker wants to do is be asleep at the wheel with a bad number that gets whacked at a bloated price.
Circa Sports has Boston second on its NHL futures betting sheet at +675 behind Colorado. The South Point and Rampart have the Vegas Golden Knights favored at +400, then Colorado at +600, then Boston and the Tampa Bay Lightning at +700.
FanDuel Sportsbook has the best Bruins odds at any American book at 10-to-1 meaning a $100 bet wins you $1,000. Always be shopping.
If you believe the B's can make a deep run, you probably want to strike relatively soon. The way the betting market is trending, 10-to-1 won't be available that much longer.
And while there's a long way to go this hockey season, one thing is extremely clear: sportsbooks are respecting the B's more and more every day.
