Three Teams To Watch In West Playoff Race

Did the injury to Dustin Byfuglien ground the Jets' playoff hopes? (Photo credit: tsyp9 / Foter / CC BY-SA)


As we enter the home stretch of the regular season in NHL betting, the Western Conference playoff race is heating up.

The Winnipeg Jets are fighting for a playoff berth, the Nashville Predators have lost their hold on top spot, and the Colorado Avalanche is coming on strong — but is it too late?

We asked our Sports Interaction NHL betting analyst for his thoughts:

Winnipeg Jets

As of Friday, the Jets were one point behind the Flames and Kings for eighth in the West.

Making things even more difficult for Winnipeg, however, is that the Sharks are hot on their heels, as well as the recent injuries to Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little.

“Considering how well they’ve played in light of those injuries, you’d like to think they battle through and keep putting up points, but it’s going to be awfully tough,” said the Sports Interaction NHL betting analyst. “Losing Byfuglien is just a huge blow… While Winnipeg will put up a good fight, don’t be surprised if all these injuries finally catch up to Paul Maurice’s team down the stretch.”

Nashville Predators

A couple of weeks ago, the Predators were the favourite on the Stanley Cup betting odds. Now, with only an OT win over Arizona to show for their efforts in their last eight games, a lot of people are jumping off the Nashville bandwagon.

“Probably a blip on the radar. Nashville has one of the deepest teams in the league from top to bottom and hasn’t gone through many prolonged slumps this season,” said the Sports Interaction NHL betting analyst. “With arguably the best blue line in the league and Pekka Rinne between the pipes, this team has what it takes to pull out of this slump. Just don’t go crazy betting the Predators on the puck line — they’ve already cost their supporters nearly 16 units on the goal spread this season.”

Colorado Avalanche

Given up for dead a few weeks ago, the Avs are now on the fringe of the playoff race. Colorado was six points behind the Flames and Kings for eighth, going into Friday’s action, and had won seven of nine.

Our Sports Interaction NHL betting analyst isn’t convinced this hot play will continue.

“Losing Nathan MacKinnon is a big problem, even if he’s having a bit of a sophomore slump,” said the analyst. “And when you add that to Semyon Varlamov’s nagging groin issues, the Avs are a very risky bet right now.

“The truth is, Patrick Roy had this team playing well above itself last year, which created unrealistic expectations for the squad this year. Yes, they’ve made their supporters some cash (recently), but they’re hardly a team you can depend on.”