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In professional sports, there are few things more exciting than a Game Seven, as two teams have fought tooth and nail to split three games and it comes down to one more spirited conflict. For those teams that played better during the regular season, they have earned the right to host the game. Bettors have a challenging decision, can the road underdog pull off the upset, providing more lucrative payoff, or is it smarter to play it safe and hope you can have a laugher like Montreal did last night. Talk about having your backs to the wall, the Washington Capitals were facing elimination at Philadelphia, down 2-0 in game six and appeared to have as much a chance to win as Lindsey Lohan going to New York nightclub and sipping a Red Bull on the rocks. Then suddenly like government intervention, Washington went on the aggressive and started dictating the play like they had in games four and five and tied the contest at 2-2. At this point, star winger Alex Ovechkin, who had one goal in the series to this point, took over like the NHL’s leading scorer should and the former No. 1 overall pick gave the Capitals the lead on a breakaway early in the third, then added a power-play goal in the Capitals' 4-2 win.
"The stars, it seems to happen around them, whether it's John Elway and 'The Drive' or great baseball players getting the last at-bat," said coach Bruce Boudreau. "He was getting frustrated because they did such a good job on him, but he persevered and came through."
Now Washington, who had to finish the season 11-1 just to make the NHL playoffs, will try to become the 21st team in NHL history to win a series after falling behind 3-1 when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday in Game 7. Bookmaker.com has the Caps posted as -147 favorites with total at 5.5. Washington is 8-1 ATS in last nine games on home ice and 6-1 ATS after they allowed two or less goals.
Philadelphia blew golden chance and has to quickly turnaround to play game seven with goalie Martin Biron having allowed less then three goals just once in this series and he is 0-5 ATS this season in back-to-back games. The Flyers are 1-6 ATS without rest and 2-6 ATS when money line underdogs of +110 to +150. San Jose is a -191 favorite to do away with the pesky Calgary Flames in the evening’s final encounter of the first round. San Jose failed to match Calgary’s intensity in last contest, losing 2-0, forcing deciding game, despite having the league’s second best regular season record.
“We knew it was going to go six or seven games right from the get-go,” said Joe Thornton, the Sharks’ second-leading scorer in the series with six points. “We had a real good feeling it was going to go seven games. … We played all 82 games to get home advantage for this Game 7.”
On the year, San Jose was nothing special at the “Shark Tank”.
Compiling 24-20 ATS record; however they have seven of last eight and are 4-1 when in -151 to -200 price range. Calgary is like the little cousin that won’t leave you alone at family outings, annoying you to no end. The Flames are 6-2 ATS after scoring two or less goals and 27-16 ATS against excellent power play teams scoring on 17.5 percent or more of their chances.
The Sharks players have talked about relishing this opportunity; still you have to wonder about a team never known for mental toughness. In game six when San Jose could have wrapped up the series, they were shutout for the first time since Dec.18.
The Versus Network will broadcast both Game seven’s, with the Flyers and the Caps playing first at 7 Eastern.
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