VANCOUVER, CANADA - MAY 18: Kevin Bieksa #3 of the Vancouver Canucks skates by the Canucks bench to celebrate his second period goal against Vancouver Canucks in Game Two of the Western Conference Finals during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Arena on May 18, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Daniel Sedin won't play in Game 1, but that's only half the problem - literally - for the Los Angeles Kings as they travel to Vancouver.
The other half is healthy Henrik Sedin. And oddsmakers have stacked the odds high against the Kings, a talented squad that never got it all together this season.
The Canucks, first overall this season, get the No. 8 seeds from California and are -155 moneyline chalk for tonight's series opener. While some teams struggled or lurched down the stretch, the Canucks ended the season on a roll, winning eight of their last nine games.
Los Angeles meanwhile was one of the NHL's most offensively challenged teams despite a lineup that includes Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards and Drew Doughty.
"A lot of money is heaped on the UNDER 5 goals here," said Jack Randall of OddsShark.com, the hockey odds provider to SBNation. "Vancouver was very good defensively and the Kings need to play tight because they can't score."
They split four games this year and none of the past eight meetings saw more than five goals scored - hence all the interest in betting UNDER in Game 1.
In series betting odds (picking how many games each team will win), the favored position is a 4-1 series win for the Canucks. That was 7/2 odds at several books tracked by Odds Shark.
"Another interesting UNDER bet is the total of goals in the entire series and that is tempting at 27.5," said Randall.
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