{"id":647801,"date":"2026-05-03T22:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647801\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T22:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:53:09","slug":"nhl-playoffs-2026-picks-best-bets-for-canadiens-at-lightning-game-7-on-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647801\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Playoffs 2026 picks: Best bets for Canadiens at Lightning Game 7 on Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first round of the\u00a0NHL<\/a>\u00a0Stanley Cup Playoffs wraps up Sunday, and a thrilling Canadiens<\/a> vs. Lightning<\/a>\u00a0series comes down to a Game 7 matchup. Meanwhile, Round 2 continues with\u00a0Minnesota Wild<\/a> vs. Avalanche<\/a>\u00a0in Denver. Four of the six games in the Lightning vs. Canadiens series have gone to overtime, and all six have been decided by one goal. That includes the Lightning’s 1-0 victory in OT on Friday to force this deciding game. The Wild won a tight series with the Stars and now take on the Western Conference’s top seed. The Avalanche swept the Kings<\/a>\u00a0out of the first round, outscoring them 13-5, and haven’t played since last Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0SportsLine Projection Model<\/a>, which simulates every NHL game 10,000 times, has revealed its\u00a0NHL picks<\/a>\u00a0and best bets for Sunday’s games. The model entered the second full week of the 2026 NHL playoffs with a +668 return on top-rated money-line\u00a0NHL picks<\/a>. Anyone following its\u00a0NHL betting<\/a>\u00a0advice at\u00a0sportsbooks<\/a>\u00a0and on\u00a0betting apps<\/a>\u00a0could have seen strong returns.<\/p>\n

Sunday’s Game 7 will eat up the attention, but both games offer plenty of options for bettors, including\u00a0spread betting<\/a>,\u00a0Over\/Under bets<\/a>, money line betting<\/a> and player prop betting<\/a>. Bettors can also combine multiple picks and make a\u00a0parlay bet<\/a>\u00a0for Saturday’s game.<\/p>\n

Check out the\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0for a new-user offer before placing any bets on the 2026 NHL Playoffs.<\/p>\n

NHL Playoffs picks for Sunday, May 3Canadiens vs. Lightning Over 5.5 GoalsCanadiens Money LineWild +1.5Canadiens vs. Lightning Over 5.5 Goals<\/p>\n

This series has been as tight as it could possibly be, with both Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a> of the Lightning and Montreal’s Jakub Dobes<\/a> making huge save after huge save. The first game finished with seven total goals before four straight 3-2 contests. Game 6 was filled with action, but the goalies kept pucks out of the net. The SportsLine model expects more scoring in this one, with Over 5.5 goals\u00a0hitting in 55.1% of simulations<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bet on the NHL Playoffs with the latest Caesars Sportsbook promo code<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canadiens Money Line<\/p>\n

These teams are eerily evenly matched, and it could go either way. The Lightning are at home, but this series is likely to come down to one huge goal. The physical play and strong goaltending have frustrated stars like Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov<\/a>, who hasn’t scored since the series opener, and Montreal’s Cole Caufield<\/a>, who also has just one goal. The model has Montreal winning in 49% of its simulations, earning the pick a ‘B’ grade with a plus-money payout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild +1.5<\/p>\n

Minnesota only allowed more than two goals in one game in its series victory against the Stars. Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt<\/a> has 103 saves over the past three games, while Matt Boldy<\/a> has six goals and Kirill Kaprizov<\/a> has seven assists in the playoffs. The Avalanche had the best record in the NHL, but the SportsLine model sees Minnesota putting up a fight, as it is projecting a final score of 3.3-3.0<\/a>, with the Wild covering the +1.5 puck line in 68% of its simulations.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL bettors can sign up with the latest\u00a0FanDuel promo code<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first round of the\u00a0NHL\u00a0Stanley Cup Playoffs wraps up Sunday, and a thrilling Canadiens vs. Lightning\u00a0series comes down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[4777,64,63,615,313509,313510,229417,7522,116509,195952,35870,7526,54991,7524,5790,575,135435,123162,313506,313507,313508,123163,4784,85,4788,313511,313512],"class_list":["post-647801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-betting","tag-canadiens-lightning-odds","tag-canadiens-lightning-picks","tag-cole-caufield","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-jakub-dobes","tag-jesper-wallstedt","tag-kirill-kaprizov","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-matt-boldy","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-odds","tag-nhl-picks","tag-nhl-playoffs-odds","tag-nhl-playoffs-picks","tag-nhl-playoffs-predictions","tag-nhl-predictions","tag-nikita-kucherov","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-wild-avalanche-odds","tag-wild-avalanche-picks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}