The Anaheim Ducks looked awfully bad in their first two playoff offerings. They've already erased their two home defeats by winning twice on enemy ice, and they've got all the momentum on their side heading into Saturday's duel back at home against the Nashville Predators.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
The oddsmakers have a tough task here when it comes to lining this game. Anaheim failed as both -157 and -174 favorites at home in Games 1 and 2 of this series, it put on a truly impressive display on Tuesday and Thursday, winning the two games in Nashville by a combined score of 7-1.
If we had to guess, the Ducks will end up favored by a margin right in between where they were in Games 1 and 2, which means they'll probably debut around -160 or -165.
The total of 5 has pushed in three of the four games of this series, so there's no reason to alter that for Game 5.
GOALIE REPORT
Credit to Bruce Boudreau for knowing that a goalie switch would really fire up his team. If the Ducks do go deep into this postseason, John Gibson will surely get his chance once again, but over the course of these last two games, Frederik Andersen has been on fire, allowing just one goal on 58 shots. Gibson had allowed six on 60 shots in two games prior.
The thing that has to really worry Predators backers is that Pekka Rinne has now allowed 11 goals in four games, giving him a 2.77 GAA. He hasn't even really faced the full wrath of the Ducks offensively yet, as he's only faced an average of 26.0 shots per game. For a team which averaged 30.3 shots per game in the regular season, that's an awfully low number.
LIVE BETTING
The Ducks haven't really gotten any of their stars into this series fully yet. Corey Perry has yet to score a goal, while Ryan Kesler only has one goal and no assists in the four games. Ryan Getzlaf has had some moments in which he's been awesome, but he also went silent for a while as well.
However, this team had one of the best offenses in the NHL for a reason. The Ducks can count on their superstars for super games, but they've really done it with all four lines, particularly in these last two games. Fifteen players have already logged at least one point for Anaheim in these playoffs, and if lines are rolling with that much efficiency, this will be a really tough team to beat.
QUICK PICK
We just get the feeling the Ducks are going to roll to a 4-2 series win. They've done the hard part of getting back those two games they lost at home, and we wonder if Nashville is going to be demoralized.
We finally saw some chinks in the defensive armor of Shea Weber and Roman Josi, and if these two men aren't dominating on both sides of the ice, the Predators are in trouble. They don't have the firepower to get into a really fast game with the Ducks, and though Rinne is good, he hasn't been stellar at times.
Anaheim was fantastic at home this season at 25-10-4-2, and we can't see it losing a third straight to a suspect team which barely got into the playoffs in the first place.
NHL Odds: Ducks 5, Predators 2
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Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! Game 5 of this series between the Nashville Predators and the Anaheim Ducks will commence on Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. ET at the Honda Center. The contest will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.
