Thursday, May 04, 2006

Sportsbook.com, the world's largest online sportsbook and casino, has posted
odds on the NHL's Eastern Conference semi-final match-ups. The Ottawa
Senators are big -280 favorites against the upstart Buffalo Sabres while the
red hot New Jersey Devils come into their series with the Carolina
Hurricanes as -175 favorites, despite being the lower seed. Ottawa and
Carolina battled for supremacy in the Eastern Conference all season long,
but while Ottawa easily dispatched of the defending champions, Tampa Bay, in
five games, Carolina looked less than convincing in their come from behind
six game victory over the Montreal Canadiens. New Jersey on the other hand
comes into the second round riding a 15 game winning streak, including a
sweep of the New York Rangers, who they outscored by a 17-4 margin. Riding
the red hot scoring of Patrik Elias, who leads all players with 11 playoff
points in only four games of action, and the best playoff goalie of the last
generation, Martin Brodeur, New Jersey seem the logical choice as favorite.

"The NHL playoffs have been as exciting as always so far and there are some
amazing match-ups in the second round," says Alex Czajkowski,
Sportsbook.com. "Everybody bets on the playoffs and while Ottawa and New
Jersey are favored, both series have the potential to go down to the seventh
game, and then it's anybody's guess."

New Jersey and Ottawa are co-favorites to win the Stanley Cup at 3-1.
Ottawa's odds have not changed since the beginning of the post-season, but
the Devils have improved from 10-1. The other big movers after the first
round are the San Jose Sharks who jumped from odds of 14-1 to 4-1, and the
Edmonton Oilers, a 40-1 longshot before upsetting the Detroit Red Wings who
know sit 15-1. San Jose has now become the favorite to win the Western
Conference at 3-2, followed by Calgary at 3-1, assuming the Flames win
tonight's deciding game against Anaheim.