NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Best Bets 5/3/22

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs will see four teams from the Eastern Conference kick off their postseason tonight, headlined by the top-seeded Florida Panthers, who like the Colorado Avalanche in the West, are heavy favorites in their first-round matchup.

Below, you can look at both Eastern Conference games on tonight’s NHL slate and at some of our best bets on the FanDuel Sportsbook.

Pittsburgh Penguins (+112) vs New York Rangers (-134 ) Total: 5.5 (O+102, U-124)

The Penguins have goalie question marks entering this series and that’s never something you want to see take place as you’re about to kick off Game 1 of a playoff series. Casey DeSmith is expected to get the start tonight for Game 1 with Tristian Jarry sidelined and that gives a distinct advantage to the Rangers in net, who already boasted a big one with the likely Vezina Trophy winner in Igor Shesterkin.

Three out of four games during the regular season series between these clubs saw less than six goals scored, meaning you may want to look towards the under at -124, even with questions about DeSmith in goal. The Rangers won three of four meetings as well, so you can also look towards them on the moneyline.

Best Bet: Rangers -134

Washington Capitals (+195) vs Florida Panthers (-240) Total: 6.5 (O-128, U+104)

The Capitals are going to be in a tough spot this series against the highest-scoring offense in hockey and even if Alex Ovechkin does manage to dress for Washington as expected, he likely won’t be at 100%.

The Panthers won two of three games over the Capitals during the regular season, and all three of those contests saw seven or more goals scored, meaning we could be in for a high-scoring series. The total for tonight is set at 6.5 and there’s a definite lean towards the over at -128 with what we saw transpire between these two clubs during the regular season, to go along with plenty of question marks in goal for both sides.

Best Bet: Over 6.5 Goals (-128)