Hockey betting: Top Seeds Struggling in NHL Postseason

The first week of the NHL postseason has proven to be quite difficult for several clubs that entered their conference quarterfinal series with home ice advantage. Eastern Conference After dominating the NHL's regular season, the Washington Capitals promptly lost the home ice edge against the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens in their playoff opener last Thursday in a 3-2 overtime setback. In Game 2 on Saturday, the Capitals were pushed to overtime again before pulling out a 6-5 win to even the series. While the Canadiens now have the home ice edge in the best-of-seven series, Washington is still a -460 favorite to advance to the conference semi-finals heading into Monday's Game 3 in Montreal. Second-seed New Jersey also must now win at least one road game in its series against seventh-seed Philadelphia to reach the next round of the postseason. The Flyers stole Game 1 in New Jersey and are now up 3 games to 1 heading. Third-seed Buffalo is even with sixth-seed Boston heading into Game 3 of that series. Pittsburgh is the only top four seed in the East with home ice advantage heading into this week. The fourth-seeded Penguins rebounded from a Game 1 loss at home to win the next two games in its series against fifth-seed Ottawa. Overall, home teams are just 5-5 in the first ten playoff games in the Eastern Conference. Western Conference It's a similar story out west. Top-seed San Jose narrowly tied the series with Colorado 2 games to 2. The Sharks dropped it's home ice edge with a 2-1 defeat in Game 1 last Wednesday. The second-seeded Chicago Blackhawks must win at least one game versus seventh-seed Nashville to survive in its series. After losing Game 1, Chicago tied the series with a victory in Game 2, only to lose its third game. Third-seed Vancouver was one of the few teams with home ice advantage to win a Game 1 but the Canucks promptly lost Game 2 to the sixth-seeded Los Angles Kings. Despite losing the home ice edge, Vancouver is still a -170 series favorite heading into Game 3 at Los Angeles. Fourth-seed Phoenix was able to regain its home ice advantage with a Game 3 win at fifth-seed Detroit last Sunday. However, they too lost the next game in Detroit, and this series is now tied 2 to 2. Home squads are 5-5 in the first ten playoff matchups in the West.