2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff Round 2 Betting Preview

Welcome to the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 betting preview. In this article, I’ll share my thoughts on all four series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

What a crazy first round of the playoffs, with three upset Game 7 wins. 

Be sure to check out the Dangle Bet Celly Stanley Cup Round 2 Preview Show with Eric Young and me. We broke out all four series and shared a few of our favorite series props and bets for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

(All odds are per DraftKings Sportsbook.)

Eastern Conference 

(A2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (WC2) Florida Panthers

Maple Leafs -180 (50-21-11, 111 PTS) vs. Panthers +150 (42-32-8, 92 PTS)

Head-to-Head Matchup

TOR 3-0-1
GF:GA 15-10 (TOR)

FLA 4 @ TOR 5 OT
TOR 6 @ FLA 2 
FLA 3 @ TOR 2 OT
TOR 2 @ FLA 1 OT

Team Stats 

GF: TOR 3.39 (9)/FLA 3.51 (6)
GF/60 (5v5): TOR 2.8 (7)/FLA 3.01 (3)
GA: TOR 2.68 (7)/FLA 3.32 (21)
GA/60 (5v5): TOR 2.16 (4)/FLA 2.51 (16) 
PP: TOR 26.0% (2)/FLA 22.8% (10)
PK: TOR 81.9% (12)/FLA 76.0% (23)
SF/60 (5v5): TOR 31.14 (12)/FLA 35.64 (1)
SA/60 (5v5): TOR 28.26 (6)/FLA 30.29 (22)
HDCF/60 (5v5): TOR 13.9 (7)/FLA 14.82 (1)
HDCA/60 (5v5): TOR 11.6 (14)/FLA 12.89 (26)

Team Leaders — Playoff Stats

Goals

Auston Matthews — 5
John Tavares — 4
Morgan Rielly — 3

Matthew Tkachuk — 5
Brandon Montour — 5
Sam Reinhart — 3

Points 

Mitch Marner — 11
Auston Matthews — 9
Morgan Rielly — 8

Matthew Tkachuk — 11
Carter Verhaeghe — 8
Brandon Montour — 8

Breakdown 

Last year’s Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers shocked the world and upset this year’s Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in seven games. The Panthers were clearly a bad matchup for the Bruins as Florida was only one of two teams to beat Boston twice in the regular season, and they won four of seven against them in the playoffs, including three games at TD Garden. A place where Boston only lost seven times in the regular season.

As seen above, Florida had the edge in goals, shots and high danger chances in the regular season over Toronto. They’ve shown they can go toe-to-toe with anybody in the league and they went to overtime in three of the four matchups against Toronto this season. However, I still have questions about their goaltending and penalty kill.

Credit to Paul Maurice for making the switch to $10M man Sergei Bobrovsky, because it was definitely the right call, and it turned the series around as he and the Panthers won three straight games to close out Boston. Bobrovsky has now been part of two massive upsets over the past couple of years as he won all four games against Tampa Bay in the first round in 2018-19. I think we’ll see Alex Lyon at some point in the series. Either way, advantage Toronto. 

As for the Maple Leafs, well they finally did it. It’s been a much different ride for Toronto fans this season as they saw their team win four games in the playoffs for the first time in 19 years. We had them winning in six games in the Round 1 preview, so we’re happy about that. However, they weren’t the better team in the series. 

The Maple Leafs were outplayed at 5v5 for a majority of the series against the Lightning, but they picked up timely saves, key power play goals and they finally got a couple of breaks as they won all three road games in overtime. Listen, this team has been on the short end of breaks in each of the last few first round matchups. A few series they should have won and didn’t. It was only a matter of time some of that puck luck would go their way. This is a good team, and they could go on a serious run now that they found a way to move into the second round. In fact, the Maple Leafs are now Stanley Cup favorites at +350. 

I would not be shocked if Florida surprised the hockey world again with a series win, but I’m going with Toronto. I think goaltending and special teams will be the difference. Toronto generated the fewest shots at 5v5/60 in the first round, but they capitalized on a lot of their power plays. Florida allowed 11 power play goals in the first round and Toronto scored six in six games against the Lightning. The Panthers had a bottom 10 PK in the regular season, and it showed in Round 1. You can’t give Toronto man advantages because it will bite you and the Panthers like to play on the edge a bit. 

As mentioned a couple of weeks ago here at FTN Bets, this Toronto team is built differently than last year’s version. I liked their deadline moves which proved to be the difference in Round 1 and I think they have much better goaltending in Ilya Samsonov. I thought he could close the gap between Andrei Vasilevskiy in the rematch and he was just flat out better. 

This series should be awesome! Buckle up and watch the goals pile up. 

Prediction: Maple Leafs in 7

Series Props:

• Auston Matthews Most Goals +200
• Carter Verhaeghe Most Goals +700 .25 units 
• Mitch Marner Most Points +250
• Auston Matthews More Goals vs. Matthew Tkachuk -130
• Carter Verhaeghe More Goals vs. Mitch Marner -110
• John Tavares More Goals vs. Aleksander Barkov -115
• Ryan O’Reilly More Points vs. Sam Bennett -120
• 7 games +205; TOR 4-3 Series +400

(M1) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (M2) New Jersey Devils

Hurricanes +110 (52-21-9) vs. Devils -130 (52-22-8, 112 PTS)

Head-to-Head Matchup

NJ 2-1-1
GF:GA 13-12 (NJ)

NJ 1 @ CAR 4
CAR 5 @ NJ 4 SO
NJ 5 @ CAR 3
CAR 0 @ NJ 3

Team Stats 

GF: CAR 3.20 (15)/NJ 3.52 (5)
GF/60 (5v5): CAR 2.65 (13)/NJ 2.93 (5)
GA: CAR 2.56 (2)/NJ 2.71 (8)
GA/60 (5v5): CAR 2.12 (2)/NJ 2.29 (9)
PP: CAR 19.8% (20)/NJ 21.9% (13)
PK: CAR 84.4% (2)/NJ 82.6% (4)
SF/60 (5v5): CAR 34.17 (3)/NJ 33.72 (5)
SA/60 (5v5): CAR 24.7 (1)/NJ 27.31 (5)
HDCF/60 (5v5): CAR 14.73 (2)/NJ 14.69 (3)
HDCA/60 (5v5): CAR 10.36 (2)/NJ 10.32 (1)

Team Leaders — Playoff Stats

Goals 

Sebastian Aho — 4
Paul Stastny — 3
Seth Jarvis — 2

Erik Haula — 4
Jack Hughes — 3
Ondrej Palat — 2

Points 

Sebastian Aho — 7
Brent Burns — 5
Seth Jarvis — 4

Erik Haula — 6
Jack Hughes — 5
Ondrej Palat — 5

Breakdown

This series should be very different from the other series in the Eastern Conference. Carolina and New Jersey were Nos. 1 and 2 in the regular season at eliminating high danger chances at 5v5. They both ranked in the top 10 in goals against, top five in fewest shot attempts allowed and they both have top four penalty kill units.

I was on the wrong side of both first-round matchups when it came to these two squads. However, I do believe my process was right. Ilya Sorokin didn’t have his best showing, but the Islanders hung around with the Hurricanes. Carolina was held to two or fewer goals in four of its six games and won the series. Unfortunately for New York, special teams were the difference. As for the Devils, I had their series going 7 and I always thought whichever team came out of the first round between them and the Rangers, would make it to the third round.

The Devils had the fewest goals for at 5v5/60 of any team in the opening round, but they had the lowest expected goals against rate at 5v5/60. Head coach Lindy Ruff saved the Devils when they were down 2-0 in the series by going to Akira Schmid. He was 100 percent the difference in the series as he finished with a .951 SV% and 1.38 GAA in his five starts (4-1). His 6.23 GSAA was No. 1 among all goalies in the opening round. At 5v5, Schmid rocked a .948 SV% and he only allowed six goals. He had very solid numbers in the regular season as well (9-5-2, .922 SV% & 2.13 GAA).

Carolina has issues scoring as it is, so give me the hot goalie and the more complete offense. We consistently bet unders between CAR/NYI and NJ/NYR. That won’t change for me in this round when it comes to the Hurricanes and Devils. I don’t expect a lot of offense between these two teams. Especially not from Carolina as I believe their lack of depth will show up in Round 2.

Prediction: Devils in 6

Series Props

• Jesper Bratt More Points vs. Martin Necas -115
• Brent Burns More Points vs. Dougie Hamilton -110
• Nico Hischier More Goals vs. Martin Necas -120
• Jack Hughes Most Points +250
• Jack Hughes Most Goals +300
• Erik Haula Most Goals +4000 .25 units 
• Ondrej Palat Most Goals +5500 .25 units
• Devils Series -130; Devils -1.5 Series Spread +135

Western Conference 

(C2) Dallas Stars vs. (WC2) Seattle Kraken

Stars -205 (47-21-14, 108 PTS) vs. Kraken +175 (46-28-8, 100 PTS)

Head-to-Head Matchup

DAL 2-0-1
GF:GA 13-10 (DAL)

DAL 4 @ SEA 3 OT
DAL 5 @ SEA 2 
SEA 5 @ DAL 4 OT

Team Stats 

GF: DAL 3.43 (7)/SEA 3.52 (4)
GF/60 (5v5): DAL 2.65 (15)/SEA 3.13 (1)
GA: DAL 2.62 (3)/SEA 3.07 (15)
GA/60 (5v5): DAL 2.2 (6)/SEA 2.4 (13)
PP: DAL 25.0% (5)/SEA 19.8% (21)
PK: DAL 83.5% (3)/SEA 76.7% (21)
SF/60 (5v5): DAL 30.7 (17)/SEA 30.29 (14)
SA/60 (5v5): DAL 28.96 (8)/SEA 25.84 (2)
HDCF/60 (5v5): DAL 12.51 (7)/SEA 10.6 (25)
HDCA/60 (5v5): DAL 10.84 (6)/SEA 10.96 (8)

Team Leaders — Playoff Stats

Goals

Roope Hintz — 5
Tyler Seguin — 4
Evgenii Dadonov — 3

Jaden Schwartz — 2 
Oliver Bjorkstrand — 2
Morgan Geekie — 2

Points

Roope Hintz — 12
Jason Robertson — 7
Tyler Seguin — 6

Yanni Gourde — 6
Jaden Schwartz — 5
Justin Schultz — 5

Breakdown 

The hockey world may have been shocked that the Kraken bounced defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, but if you’ve been following my work or Dangle Bet Celly, you’re not that surprised. I’m actually pretty mad at myself that I didn’t have Seattle winning the first Round 1 because I didn’t believe in the Avs’ depth and thought that would be the reason they wouldn’t be able to go deep this time around. Trust me, I lost sleep over it! I owe the group an upset pick! At the same time, I loved every minute of the Seattle victory. What a team. They’re so sound at 5v5 and they block everything. 

The mysterious loss of Valeri Nichushkin was too much for Colorado to overcome, and maybe they win Game 7 with him on the ice but let’s give Seattle some love, especially Philipp Grubauer who stole the series from his former team. A very cool story indeed, but I think the chapter closes on him and this phenomenal Seattle run in Round 2 of year two in the league.

The Stars are much deeper than Colorado with better goaltending. They didn’t miss a beat when Joe Pavelski went down (should return this round), unlike the Avs with Nichushkin. They’re extremely deep down the middle of the ice and it showed when they bumped Tyler Seguin from line three to line one for Game 2. Seguin scored four goals and had six points in six games in the first round. Pavelski has been skating on the third line in practice, but he’ll likely take his spot back if Dallas struggles to find offense. 

All three matchups between these two teams came in the final month of the season and they were high scoring. I watched both Dallas games in Seattle on March 11 and 13, and the Stars were very strong in the back-to-back on the road as they outscored the Kraken 9-5. 

I don’t believe this series will be high scoring, especially if Jared McCann remains sidelined. Give me Jake Oettinger and the Stars, and don’t be surprised if they get it done in five games. Dallas had a top-five power play and penalty kill in the regular season, meanwhile, the Kraken had the third worst PP in the first round, and they finished in the bottom 10 in special teams in the regular season. It’s really their one weakness, and it’s a big one. 

Keep an eye on Seattle’s third line for shot props and for NHL DFS. Yanni Gourde, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolavanen were on the ice a lot vs. Colorado’s top dogs, and I expect them to play a “shutdown role” vs. Dallas’ top players in this series. 

Prediction: Stars in 6

Series Props:

• Jason Robertson Most Goals +400
• Tyler Seguin Most Goals +1200 .5 units 
• Evgenii Dadonov Most Goals +4500 .25 units
• Roope Hintz Most Points +350
• Tyler Seguin Most Points +1500 .5 units
• Joe Pavelski Most Points +1200 .5 units
• Tyler Seguin More Goals vs. Jaden Schwartz -145
• Jamie Benn More Points vs. Matty Beniers -135
• Roope Hintz More Points vs. Jason Robertson +120
• Tyler Seguin More Points vs. Oliver Bjorkstrand -130
• Stars -1.5 Series Spread -110

(P1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (P2) Edmonton Oilers

Golden Knights +130 (51-22-9, 111 PTS) vs. Oilers -150 (50-23-9, 109 PTS)

Head-to-Head Matchup

EDM 3-0-1
GF:GA 18-14 (EDM)

VGK 3 @ EDM 4 OT
EDM 4 @ VGK 3
VGK 4 @ EDM 3 OT
EDM 7 @ VGK 4

Team Stats 

GF: VGK 3.26 (14)/EDM 3.96 (1)
GF/60 (5v5): VGK 2.69 (9)/EDM 2.91 (6)
GA: VGK 2.74 (11)/EDM 3.12 (17)
GA/60 (5v5): VGK 2.32 (11)/EDM 2.56 (17)
PP: VGK 20.3% (18)/EDM 32.4% (1)
PK: VGK 77.4% (19)/EDM 77.0% (20)
SF/60 (5v5): VGK 29.89 (18)/EDM 31.83 (9)
SA/60 (5v5): VGK 29.89 (13)/EDM 29.86 (12)
HDCF/60 (5v5): VGK 12.17 (16)/EDM 13.77 (8)
HDCA/60 (5v5): VGK 10.99 (9)/EDM 10.84 (5)

Team Leaders — Playoff Stats

Goals 

William Karlsson — 4
Chandler Stephenson — 4
Jack Eichel — 3

Leon Draisaitl — 7
Connor McDavid — 3
Evander Kane — 3

Points

Mark Stone — 8
Chandler Stephenson -8
Jack Eichel — 5

Leon Draisaitl — 11
Connor McDavid — 11
Evan Bouchard — 10

Breakdown 

The Golden Knights gave their fans a scare in Game 1 but went on to win four straight games and bounced the Jets in five. Things will be much tougher in Round 2 against the high-flying Edmonton Oilers. 

I have the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup, and this is the exact matchup I had in the second round so I won’t come off that. There’s really no reason to either. Edmonton has not lost a regulation game since March 11th. That’s almost a span of two months. They’re 18-0-3 in their last 21 games and they’re 22-2-3 with Mattias Ekholm. 

As I’ve said multiple times here and on Dangle Bet Celly or Mean Streets, Ekholm is exactly what the Oilers needed on the blue line. A tough experienced defenseman who is great in his own zone and is hard to play against. The trade of Tyson Barrie has also opened up Evan Bouchard’s game as the young defenseman picked up 10 points in the opening round. 

Stuart Skinner is a wild card but so is Laurent Brossoit. The return of Mark Stone gives this Golden Knights team three lines that can score and Stone was strong in the first round as he picked up eight points. His linemate Chandler Stephenson was almost invisible in the second half without Stone, but he also had eight points in the first round. 

However, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are just on another level at the moment. Also, what can you say about this historic power play in Edmonton? They operated at an all-time best 32% in the regular season and here in the playoffs they are 9-of-16. Yes, that’s right, 56%. It’s not a matter of if the Oilers will score on the PP, it’s a matter of who and when.  The Golden Knights penalty kill all season was just average. Stone helps but keep in mind EDM scored 18 goals in four games against VGK.

We cashed in on the value with Draisaitl in Round 1. I’ll be going back to him in Round 2.

Prediction: Oilers in 6

Series Props:

• Leon Draisaitl Most Goals +350
• Evander Kane Most Goals +900 .25 units 
• Leon Draisaitl Most Points +170
• Evan Bouchard Most Points +15000 .10 units
• Evander Kane More Goals vs. Jonathan Marchessault
• Jack Eichel More Goals vs. Zach Hyman -130
• Leon Draisaitl More Points vs. Connor McDavid +110
• Mark Stone More Points vs. Evander Kane -120