The Nashville Predators are 8-2 through the first two rounds of this postseason. The Predators will look for continued success this Friday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Anaheim Ducks.
Predators vs. Ducks odds, NHL playoffs 2017: Nashville betting underdog for Game 1 at Anaheim
The Nashville Predators and the Anaheim Ducks clash in the series opener of the Western Conference Final this Friday night in Anaheim.
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Nashville is a small -105 underdog in Anaheim at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The Ducks are a -115 favorite to start the series off with a win.
Nashville Predators
The Predators made a strong statement in the form of a sweep over the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round, and they followed that statement up with another great showing against the St. Louis Blues. Pekka Rinne leads all goaltenders this postseason with a dazzling 1.37 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage.
Nashville has played the fewest amount of games to get to this point, needing just 10 games to do away with the Blackhawks and Blues.
In three regular season matchups between these two teams this season, the home team won every game with Anaheim holding a 2-1 edge per the OddsShark NHL Database. The Predators and Ducks met in the first round last season and Nashville came out on top in seven games.
Betting Line / Total: Anaheim -115 / 5 Goals
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks had seen each of their previous five postseason trips come to an end after blowing a 3-2 series lead with a road loss in Game 6 and a home loss in Game 7. History looked like it might be repeating itself against the Edmonton Oilers as the Ducks lost Game 6 by a score of 7-1 and fell behind 1-0 in Game 7 just 3:31 into the game.
But Anaheim bounced back and dominated the last two periods of play, earning a 2-1 win at home and its second trip into the conference final in the last three seasons. The Ducks are 19-3-3 over their last 25 games overall.
Friday night’s total is set at five goals. The OVER is 6-3-4 in 13 all-time postseason games between the Ducks and Predators.
With Rinne and the Nashville defense playing at such a high level, goals may be hard to come by in this series for the Ducks. This should be a tight series between two teams that have played very well in getting to this point.
Nashville Predators at Anaheim Ducks
When: Friday, May 12, 9:00 p.m. ET
Where: Honda Center, Anaheim, California
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