{"id":257109,"date":"2026-05-03T23:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T23:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257109\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T23:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T23:53:14","slug":"odds-best-bets-picks-for-stanley-cup-playoffs-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/257109\/","title":{"rendered":"Odds, best bets, picks for Stanley Cup playoffs Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

The only first-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a> that\u2019s gone the distance is here for good reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Canadiens and Lightning will clash in Game 7 on Sunday after a 1-0 overtime thriller, sealed by Tampa Bay grinder Gage Goncalves, who punched plane tickets back to Tampa.<\/p>\n

This series has been microscopically close: all six games have been decided by one goal (four of which in overtime) and the Under has cashed five times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With some veteran edge, the Lightning are -155 moneyline favorites at bet365 Sportsbook<\/a>, with the goal total unsurprisingly set down at 5.5.<\/p>\n

Canadiens vs. Lightning prediction, best bet<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking at structurally low-event hockey because of evenly matched systems. Instead of clean carries into the zone, we\u2019re seeing lots of forced dump-ins as both sides are mirroring one another by stacking the blue line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no time and space out there and we\u2019re seeing it affect star players. Montreal leading-goal scorer Cole Caufield has potted one lonely goal, which was on the power play, while point-leader Nick Suzuki is scoreless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nikita Kucherov, who finished the regular season with the league\u2019s second-most points at 130, has scored only once.<\/p>\n

\"AprCole Caufield plays the puck during the third period of the Canadiens\u2019 3-2 overtime win over the Lightning in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series on April 24, 2026 at the Bell Centre. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

In turn, both clubs have tallied 14 total goals apiece and there has only been one two-goal lead at any point in the series \u2014\u00a0a 2-0 Montreal lead in Game 4 that was squandered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t look at 5-on-5 play and discover any palpable edge, either. Goals at 5-on-5 are also even at nine apiece while Tampa holds a razor-thin edge in expected goals for at 10.7 to 10.1, according to Natural Stat Trick.<\/p>\n

Aside from defensive execution, goaltending has been paramount. While there have been more 50\/50 retrievals than skill-driven attacks, it\u2019s still not as though Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jakub Dobe\u0161 have had an easy workload. Vasilevskiy has turned aside 24 of 29 high-danger chances, compared to Dobe\u0161, who has stopped 18 of 21.<\/p>\n

Vasilevskiy, hot off a 30-save shutout, is no stranger to Game 7s. In four career starts, he\u2019s polished a 1.51 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.<\/p>\n

The whole series has come down to a bounce, so let\u2019s not expect that trend to change in the final stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The play: Under 5.5 (-145, bet365)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4640,51845,5691,45806,110,5775,5776,78369,135,862,137,136],"class_list":["post-257109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-betting","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-betting","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting","tag-sports-picks","tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}