Updated 2018 Stanley Cup Odds – May 7th

How the odds keep shifting in the race for the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup! The Washington Capitals are a game away from knocking that monkey known as the Pittsburgh Penguins off their backs, as they took a convincing 6-3 win on Saturday to move into a 3-2 series lead. The Winnipeg Jets have come out of nowhere to deal Nashville a 6-2 thumping on Nashville’s home ice and sit just a game away from the Western Conference Finals. Tampa Bay has sent Boston home and now await the winners of the Penguins and the Capitals, while Vegas continues their historic postseason run, having knocked San Jose out of the playoffs on Sunday night. Check out our 2018 Stanley Cup odds & betting insights on each of the remaining teams.

Updated 2018 Stanley Cup Odds – May 7th

Playoffs Power Rankings: 2 teams have already punched their tickets to the conference final and the #Caps sit just one win away https://t.co/5LN4mdxH73

— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) May 7, 2018

• Tampa Bay Lightning                                   5/2
• Vegas Golden Knights                                 14/5
• Winnipeg Jets                                               14/5
• Washington Capitals                                                11/2
• Nashville Predators                                      8/1
• Pittsburgh Penguins                        9/1

Tampa Bay ended up eliminating a Boston team that had owned them during the regular season in just five games. In the series finale, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy showed that he had the form that could carry the Lightning all the way to the title, stopping 14 shots in the first period and 27 shots for the game. Tampa Bay won four games in a row to take this series after losing the opener at home. Boston scored six goals in that opener, but had a hard time finding offense after that. In the last three games of the series, the Bruins did not score at all at even strength. Given the dynamic offense that Boston showed all season long, that speaks volumes for the Tampa Bay defense, which held Boston’s top line to 23 points in the series — but just 12 points in Games Two through Five. Vegas posted a 3-0 shutout on Sunday to move to the Western Conference finals. San Jose hit the post in four different occasions, but they never found the back of the net, as Marc-Andre Fleury posted his fourth shutout of these playoffs, stopping 28 shots. He permitted just three goals in the entire opening round and put up a pair of shutouts against the Sharks. He also stood on his head in the overtime victory in Game Three. Vegas is just the third expansion team to win two postseason series in its first year, but their accomplishments are a little more impressive than those of the Toronto Arenas (who won the first postseason title in 1918) and the St. Louis Blues (who won a division consisting of all expansion teams in 1968). Winnipeg delivered a trouncing of Nashville that was almost unthinkable give the Predators’ run to the Cup Final last year and their President’s Trophy-winning season this year. However, Kyle Connor picked up two goals and an assist, and goals also came from Dustin Byfuglien, Mark Scheifele, Paul Stastny and Mathieu Perrault as the Jets needed just 14 shots in the second period to net four goals. The Predators have not won two consecutive games in the postseason since they opened the first round with a pair of wins over Colorado. Nashville had to pull Pekka Rinne who permitted six goals on 26 shots. Winnipeg has all the momentum — but they have to beat a tested Predators team to end the series. Washington put Jakub Vrana on the top line for Game Five against Pittsburgh on Saturday, and he assisted on the equalizer and scored the game-winner, as Washington doubled up the Penguins. Game Six comes Monday night in Pittsburgh, and a win would send the Caps to the East finals for the first time since 1998, when they went to the Stanley Cup Finals but came up short. However, center Nicklas Backstrom had to leave with an upper-body injury, and his status remains questionable. I’m still not sure that Washington has the mental strength to eliminate the Penguins, but they certainly have found plenty of ways to score against a Swiss-cheese Pittsburgh defense.