NHL Hockey Betting: Chicago Blackhawks at Anaheim Ducks

The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks will battle for the Western Conference’s spot in the Stanley Cup Finals on Saturday as they play Game Seven of their hotly contested series. The Hawks played their best game of the series–if not the entire playoffs–on Wednesday as they blitzed the Ducks 5-2. Neither team has been able to gain any real momentum during this series but that’s of little relevance now. It’ll come down to three periods of hockey (plus overtime if needed) to determine the Western Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Finals. In fact, given the superiority of the Western Conference in recent years many hockey pundits have suggested that this series is the de facto Stanley Cup Finals.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will have a chance to give their refutation to the hockey pundits assertion in due course but for now it’ll be the Blackhawks and the Ducks. At first glance, this is an evenly matched game as it has been an evenly matched series. In fact, the parity between these teams goes back several years. The Ducks have won 8 of the last 15 head to head but Chicago has won 4 of the last 7 meetings in Southern California. Most power ratings suggest that this is an even matchup but we give the edge to Chicago in several areas. First of all, we give the Hawks’ goaltending the edge. Corey Crawford never gets mentioned among the top goaltenders in the league but he must be doing *something* right. He’s the starting goaltender for the #2 scoring defense during the regular season and has the Hawks one win away from the Finals. He had some shaky moments during the opening series against Nashville but was able to ‘right the ship’ and has been solid ever since. Frederik Andersen is a decent goalie but has been very inconsistent during this series.

In our view, the Blackhawks are the better team and have significantly more playoff experience. There’s a good chance they’ve got the Ducks’ physical tactics figured out and that’s bad news for Anaheim. Chicago wins this game and advances to the Stanley Cup Finals against Tampa Bay.

BET CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS +125 OVER ANAHEIM DUCKS