On Friday night the Philadelphia Flyers will play the Pittsburg Penguins in the NHL playoffs betting matchup.  Both teams have taken different routes to get to this Eastern Conference Final.  The 6th ranked Flyers have been an upset story.  In NHL Playoffs round 1, they defeated the 3rd seeded Washington Capitals in a thrilling 7 game series with pure heart and determination.  Last round they knocked off the top seeded Montreal Canadiens in only 5 games.  They make it look easy and hope to take out the Penguins on Friday and return to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1997.  The Penguins will be their most difficult task yet.  Pittsburg swept the Senators in 4 quick games in the first round, and disposed of the Rangers in round 2, in only 5 games.

The Flyers come into this series as the underdog yet again.  They are lead by an unheard of player that goes by the name of R.J Umberger.  He is only 23 but is playing like a seasoned veteran.  Umberger only had 13 goals in the regular season but has notched 9 in the playoffs.  Daniel Briere is leading Philadelphia with 14 points.  Also, Vacal Prospal has 9 assists to lead his team in this category.  The Flyers need these three players to come up big if they want to take this series.  They will also need their goaltender Matrin Biron to continue his stellar play.  His numbers may not be pretty but he is getting the job done and that’s all that matters.  Currently Oddsmakers at Sportsbetting.com have the Flyers as a +155 underdog heading into Friday’s game.

The Penguins look to be dominating this years NHL playoffs.  Not only do they have a record of 8 wins and 1 loss in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, they also have outscored their opponents by a margin of 31-17.  They achieved this by getting big numbers from their key players.  Evegeni Malkin leads the team with 14 points and is currently tied for 3rd in the entire playoffs.  Sidney Crosby also has 14 points, 12 of them being assists.  Last but not least, Marc Andre Fleury has been superb in net.  He has a save percentage of .938 and a goals against average of 1.76. 

I think that the Penguins just have to just firepower and outmatch the Flyers drastically.  This may be a short series, with the Penguins taking it in 4 or 5.  We will have to wait and see all the NHL Playoffs betting action on Friday.

View NHL Betting Odds at OnlineSportsHandicapping.com before you bet on the NHL Playoffs at Sportsbetting.com

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