NHL Finals Betting: Canucks Have Enough To Edge Bruins To Stanley Cup Win

While 2011 Belmont Stakes betting players are getting ready for the final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown on June 11th, the Stanley Cup finals are almost here as Vancouver will host Boston in Game 1 on Wednesday night. The Bruins haven’t won since 1972, while the Canucks haven’t won in their 40-year history. Can the Canucks take the Cup back to Canada?

Bruins vs. Canucks Betting – Wednesday, 8:00 PM ET

The Bruins are coming off a grueling seven-game series against Tampa Bay, their second series that has gone the distance, and they’re doing it with grit, physical play and the effort of goalie Tim Thomas, who helped the Bruins escape with a couple games against the Lightning, although he was poor in other games as well. The Bruins have been getting points from everyone as Nathan Horton and David Krejci have been in some NHL highlights thanks to seven combined game-winning goals, the defense is solid with Zdeno Chara leading the way, and Patrice Bergeron has done it all at both ends of the ice for the Bruins. Their major drawback is a power play that has been successful only 8.2% of the time.

The Canucks have been off since May 24th, when they ended a five-game series with San Jose, and the Sedin brothers, Henrik and Daniel, finally came back to life after a poor series against Nashville. Still, the MVP of the team is Ryan Kesler, who carried the team against the Predators, he has been phenomenal in the faceoff dot, and he has gone up against the likes of Chicago’s Jonathan Toews and San Jose’s Joe Thornton and shut them down, for the most part. The defense, powered by Kevin Bieksa, has been very good in front of Roberto Luongo, who still doesn’t get enough respect, but he stopped 54 shots in the Canucks’ clincher against San Jose.

The Canucks are a -240 NHL betting favorite according to your sports bookie software, while the Bruins are listed at +200, and Boston has won three of their last five meetings with Vancouver, with three games falling under the posted total (along with a push). The Bruins are a tough team, but they’re going to need their best performance of the playoffs to beat the Canucks. Preferably, they need Vancouver native Milan Lucic to be a disruptive force, and he had three points when the Bruins won 3-1 in Vancouver back in January 26th. But that may not even be enough. The Canucks are too deep, too fast, and they’re too good on special teams to lose this series. It’s going to be tough, but take Vancouver at your favorite betting website.

NBA Betting: Heat Silence Critics, Win NBA Championship

Even Belmont Stakes betting players have had one eye on the NBA season, and surely they would have heard about the fuss that has surrounded Miami since the offseason, when they recruited LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join Dwyane Wade in South Beach. It’s been a tumultuous season for the Heat, but now they’re four wins away from the NBA title, and standing in their way is Dallas, who will be out to avenge their loss to the Heat in the 2006 Finals.

Mavericks Heat Betting – Game 1, Tuesday, 9:00 PM in Miami

The Mavericks needed six games to beat Portland, then they rolled over the two-time defending champions from Los Angeles in a humiliating four-game sweep, and then they stopped a young Oklahoma City team in five games. Through it all, Dirk Nowitzki has been the best player of the postseason, drawing some comparisons to Larry Bird, and he’s been absolutely unguardable. MLB baseball betting players would compare him to Josh Hamilton for Texas: the Mavericks are a good team without him, but they can beat anyone with him. The Mavericks also have an outstanding bench with Jason Terry and J.J. Barea leading the way.

The Heat have won each of their three series against Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago in five games, and they’ve done with stingy defense and newfound confidence at the end of games. LeBron James seems to have taken over the role as closer, although Dwyane Wade can surely hit some buckets, and Chris Bosh has played exceptionally well at points. When he’s on his game, the Heat are very tough to beat. They’ve also gotten some contribution from their role players as Udonis Haslem returned to give the Heat some quality minutes in the Chicago series, and Mike Miller also came on strong as well.

Miami is favored at -175 in your price per head sportsbook, while Dallas is listed at +155, and since losing in six games in the 2006 Finals the Mavericks are 10-0 SU and 5-4-1 ATS in their last 10 meetings with the Heat. This series will boil down to a couple of matchups: the most important is Miami’s shutdown defense against Dallas’ explosive and highly efficient offense. Shutting down Notiwzki is a big part of that, but the Heat will have to focus on the Dallas bench, where the Mavericks have the edge. Also, look for James to guard Nowitzki in late-game situations, or if the German star gets hot. In the end, you have to go with the team who plays the best defense, and the Heat have the advantage in that aspect, so they’re the smart play when making a sports bet.