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**Udog** · 05-09-2019, 07:49 AM

Armadillo: Thursday's six-pack

— Indians are 14-7 outside their division, but only 5-9 vs AL Central rivals.

— Warriors 104, Rockets 99— Kevin Durant strained a calf muscle, will probably miss Game 6.

— Bucks 116, Celtics 91— Milwaukee is in Final Four for first time since 2001.

— Hey, sports betting is legal in Indiana now. It isn’t legal yet here in New York.

— UConn, Louisville, Indiana, and Texas Tech will be the four teams at the 2019 Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in December.

— NBA teams that win Game 5 of a playoff series with a 2-2-1-1-1 format have won that series 162 of 189 times (85.7%).

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Armadillo: Thursday's List of 13: Doing some thinking out loud…….

13) Kawhi Leonard has played in all ten of Toronto’s playoff games this spring, playing 36.6 minutes a game; no nights off for “load management” He has been great.

During the regular season, Leonard sat out 22 games, played 34 mpg when he did play; is this a hint of things to come? Stars taking periodical days off to reduce the stress of a long season?

Steve Kerr suggested the regular season be cut back from 82 to 75 games, for that reason. As long as the players’ salaries get reduced by the same %age as the games are reduced, I’d be OK with it.

Taking games off when you’re not hurt is BS— people might be spending lot of money to take their kids to see a guy play, and then he doesn’t, for no reason. It is bad business.

12) Texas Rangers’ DH Joey Gallo is first big leaguer ever to hit 100 home runs before he hit 100 singles; he hit his 100th homer Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

11) From Baylor’s Twitter account:

“Baylor Athletics is thrilled to announce a lead gift for the Baylor Basketball Pavilion. This new facility will be made possible thanks to recently publicized $100 million anonymous gift as a part of Baylor University’s Give Light Campaign.”

Someone gave Baylor $100M; 100 million freakin’ dollars. Wow.

10) One of the funny things about watching baseball on TV every night is when a team is doing badly, their TV guys quickly transition to other stuff, like the local team’s NBA/NHL playoff games, or the team’s concessions stands, or the bobblehead giveaway next week, or next month.

Can’t be easy for these guys when a team sucks or is struggling; they travel with the team, with social media nowadays, any criticism they say on air gets back to the players quickly, but the job is to tell the truth, too. Delicate balance that some do way better than others.

9) “If I ain’t starting, then I’ll be departing….”

Matthew Baldwin could’t beat Justin Fields out for the QB job at Ohio State, so he is gone to TCU, where he will sit out this season, meaning he will have sat out for two years in a row after he started for only one year in high school in Lake Travis, TX.

8) We talked yesterday about CBSSports.com‘s ranking the power 5 college football coaches; they listed #1-25 Wednesday, with Washington’s Chris Petersen #3, behind Saban/Swinney. Lincoln Riley was #4, Jimbo Fisher #5.

7) They somehow list Duke’s David Cutcliffe at #21; if Cutcliffe is such a great coach, how come he can’t recruit competent WR’s? All I heard in the New York media during/after the draft was how terrible Duke’s WR’s were. Shouldn’t the #21 coach in the country be able to coach ‘em up better than they’ve been?

6) College basketball transfer portal:
— DJ Harvey bolts from Notre Dame to Vanderbilt.
— Vermont lands grad transfer Daniel Giddens from Alabama.

5) Florida Gators inked a home/home football series with Colorado; Buffs will visit Gainesville in 2028, the Gators will visit Boulder in 2029. What is interesting about this? It will be the first time Florida has left the Sunshine State for a true non-conference road game (non-bowl game) since losing at Syracuse in 1991.

4) Paul George had rotator cuff surgery since Oklahoma City was eliminated from the NBA playoffs, is going to have another operation on the other shoulder, and is expected to miss at least part of training camp next fall.

3) Toronto’s Trent Thornton used to be on my fantasy team; he was cut during his horrendous start last night against the Twins.
His four starts when he was in my lineup: 0-3, 9.00 ERA, 2.13 WHIP
His four starts when he was on my bench: 0-1, 2.42 ERA, 0.85 WHIP
Enough already.

2) Mike Fiers has started 162 major league games; he finished two of them, both of them no-hitters, throwing 134-131 pitches. Hell of a performance late Tuesday night.

1) Doug Kern came up with some great no-hitter knowledge:

Mike Fiers: First pitcher to throw his second no-hitter since Jake Arrieta 2015-16.

Fiers’ second one was against the Reds.
Arrieta’s second one was against the Reds.

Final out of Fiers’ second one: Eugenio Suarez.
Final out of Arrieta’s second one: Eugenio Suarez.

**Udog** · 05-09-2019, 07:52 AM

**Udog** · 05-09-2019, 07:56 AM

1Carolina -2 Boston
CAROLINA is 31-13 ATS (15.3 Units) against poor power play killing teams - opp score on >17.5% of chances in the 2nd half of the year in the current season.

NHL
Long Sheet

Thursday, May 9

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CAROLINA (54-31-0-8, 116 pts.) at BOSTON (57-29-0-9, 123 pts.) - 5/9/2019, 8:00 PM
Top Trends for this game.
CAROLINA is 67-102 ATS (-44.9 Units) when playing with 3 or more days rest since 1996.
CAROLINA is 27-55 ATS (+88.7 Units) in road games after a 3 game unbeaten streak since 1996.
CAROLINA is 19-47 ATS (+80.9 Units) in road games when playing against a team with a winning record over the last 3 seasons.
BOSTON is 24-8 ATS (+11.2 Units) when playing with 2 days rest over the last 2 seasons.
CAROLINA is 38-17 ATS (+16.0 Units) second half of the season this season.
CAROLINA is 27-11 ATS (+12.9 Units) after a division game this season.
BOSTON is 294-247 ATS (-106.3 Units) in home games second half of the season since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
BOSTON is 6-3 (+2.9 Units) against the spread versus CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
BOSTON is 6-3-0 straight up against CAROLINA over the last 3 seasons
6 of 9 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons . (Over=+3.0 Units)

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NHL

Thursday, May 9

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Trend Report
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Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Carolina is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Carolina's last 7 games
Carolina is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
Carolina is 15-8 SU in its last 23 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Carolina's last 7 games on the road
Carolina is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing Boston
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Carolina's last 7 games when playing Boston
Carolina is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Boston
Boston Bruins
Boston is 8-4 ATS in its last 12 games
Boston is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston's last 6 games
Boston is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games at home
Boston is 16-5 SU in its last 21 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Boston's last 7 games at home
Boston is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Carolina
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Boston's last 7 games when playing Carolina
Boston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Carolina

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**Udog** · 05-09-2019, 08:32 AM

NHL
Dunkel

Thursday, May 9

Carolina @ Boston

Game 1-2
May 9, 2019 @ 8:00 pm

Dunkel Rating:
Carolina
12.068
Boston
13.619
Dunkel Team:
Dunkel Line:
Dunkel Total:
Boston
by 1 1/2
5
Vegas Team:
Vegas Line:
Vegas Total:
Boston
-155
5 1/2
Dunkel Pick:
Boston
(-155); Under

**Udog** · 05-09-2019, 08:35 AM

NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Hurricanes vs Bruins series preview, odds and best bets
Rohit Ponnaiya

Torrey Krug and the Boston Bruins are favorites to win their NHL Eastern Conference Finals series against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Boston Bruins eliminated the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and play the Carolina Hurricanes in a best-of-seven series. We break down the NHL series odds and give you in-depth trends and notes so you can make the best bets on the road to the Stanley Cup.

BOSTON BRUINS VS CAROLINA HURRICANES

Series Winner Odds: Boston -208/Carolina +145 @ Sports Interaction
Stanley Cup Winner Odds: Boston +180/Carolina +375 @ Sports Interaction
Regular Season Head to Head: Boston 2-1

SCHEDULE

Game 1: TD Garden, Boston, MA. Thursday, May 9, 8:00 p.m ET

The rest of the schedule will be confirmed later this week.

BACKGROUND

Both Boston and Carolina had brutal seven-game tests in the opening round but Carolina swept the Islanders in the second round and Boston came back from down 0-1 to win four of the next five games in its series with the Blue Jackets. The Bruins have home-ice advantage for the conference finals.

Boston won two of three games against Carolina during the regular season with each team scoring a total of 10 goals. But backup Jaroslav Halak played in both of those Bruins wins, while Tuukka Rask has been in nets for Boston in every minute of the playoffs.

Carolina could have goalie Petr Mrazek back for Game 1 after he returned to practice with no restrictions Monday. But if backup Curtis McElhinney has to start, he's proven to be more than capable after closing out the series against the Islanders with three straight wins, a GAA of 1.56 and a .947 save percentage.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Boston and Carolina have allowed the fewest goals per game in the playoffs, with the Bruins allowing just 2.15 goals per contest and the Canes giving up just 2.27. Rask has been terrific in between the pipes for Boston with a GAA of 2.02 and save percentage of .938.

Carolina, on the other hand, has made things as easy as possible for its goaltenders, holding opponents to just 27.8 shots per game and 22.8 scoring chances per 60 minutes (both the second-best marks in the playoffs).

These teams have also been two of the highest-scoring squads during the playoffs, with Carolina averaging 3.09 goals and the Bruins right behind them with 3.08 per outing.

YOU MISS 100% OF THE SHOTS YOU DON'T TAKE

The Hurricanes easily had the best shot differential in the league during the regular season at plus-479 but their goal differential of plus-22 ranked just 13th. They'll need to capitalize on their scoring chances against a Bruins squad that had the third-best goal differential at plus-44.

FAST STARTS/SLOW STARTS

Boston has scored 13 first-period goals this postseason while allowing just five in the opening frame. Carolina has managed just six goals in the opening period while allowing 13. Taking the Bruins to score first could be a smart bet. Falling behind against Boston early would be terrible news for Carolina, with the Bruins going 41-9-5 when drawing first blood during the regular season and playoffs.

SPECIAL TEAMS ADVANTAGE

Boston has the clear edge on special teams. During the playoffs it has converted on 28.6 percent of its power plays (best in the NHL) while killing penalties at a rate of 83.8 percent. The Hurricanes have scored on just 10.5 percent of their power plays and kill just 75 percent of their penalties, with both marks being the worst in the league among teams that made it past the first round of the playoffs.

PLAYER TO WATCH: SEBASTIAN AHO, CAROLINA HURRICANES

Aho absolutely wrecked the Bruins during the regular season, scoring four goals and adding three assists in three games. He has four goals and five helpers through 11 games so far in the postseason. Taking Aho to score the most goals in this series pays out at +750.

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Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/9

Thursday's NHL Trends and Indexes - 5/9

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