The Stanley Cup Playoffs will head to the conference semifinals next week. It’s a good time for us to assess odds on both favorites and dark horses. Check out analysis and picks for our top underlay and overlay choices so you can make your bets against their odds to win the Stanley Cup!
NHL 2020 Stanley Cup Favorites vs Dark Horses Analysis
2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs
- When: August 1 – October
2020 Stanley Cup Favorites Odds
- Boston Bruins +500
- Tampa Bay Lightning +425
- Colorado Avalanche +375
- Vegas Golden Knights +350
- Philadelphia Flyers +600
- New York Islanders +700
Top Underlay Odds Favorite: Philadelphia Flyers +600
The Flyers lead their series against Montreal 3-1. That makes Philadelphia a virtual lock to head to the conference semifinals. But the Flyers haven’t looked nearly as solid as they did before the postseason started.
More importantly, the Bruins could get past Carolina, their chief rival for the Eastern Conference last season, while Vegas, Colorado, and the Lightning are dominating.
Top Overlay Odds Favorite: Colorado Avalanche +375
After the Coyotes beat the Avalanche 4-2 in Game 3, Colorado came back in Game 4 to trounce Arizona 7-1. Tampa offers better odds, but the Lightning failed last season. The Avalanche are easily the second best team in the Western Conference. They should offer +350 odds like the Golden Knights, not +375 odds.
Colorado faces the Knights in the conference semifinals. If we choose Colorado as our top overlay, we can’t choose Vegas.
Second Best Overlay Odds Favorite: Boston Bruins +500
Boston should get past the Carolina Hurricanes. That’s a big deal because the Bruins faced the Hurricanes in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.
The Bruins battle the tough Islanders in the conference semis. They should get past NYI. If they do, either Tampa knocks out Philly or the Flyers knock out Tampa. Either way, the Eastern Conference Finals favors motivated Boston.
2020 Stanley Cup Dark Horses
- St. Louis Blues +1600
- Dallas Stars +1850
- Vancouver Canucks +2200
- Calgary Flames +2000
Top Underlay Odds Dark Horse: Calgary Flames +2000
The Flames are a good hockey team. But, they’re down 3-2 to the Dallas Stars. So at +2000, they’re a bad bet to first beat the Stars and second to upset whomever they face in the conference semifinals.
Top Overlay Odds Dark Horse: St. Louis Blues +1600
The Blues are struggling against the Vancouver Canucks. Blues-Canucks are tied 2-2 with a game on Wednesday.
Make sure to check what happens with that game. If the Blues win, they’re still a great dark horse to take the Cup. The odds won’t shift too much from the +1600. St. Louis won last season. Why couldn’t they pull off the repeat in the coronavirus craziness?
Second Best Overlay Odds Dark Horse: Dallas Stars +1850
The Stars have added a decent offense to a great blue line. The Stars rank second in goals against, which means they can pretty much upset anyone in the National Hockey League.
They beat the Flames 5-4 on both August 13 and on August 16. On August 18, they beat Calgary 2-1. The Stars can hang with anyone left in the Western Conference and any team from the East.
