By Charles Jay
Well, those people who engage in NHL betting can follow pro hockey have quickly become used to Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper being coy about the status of goaltender Ben Bishop. Before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, he seemed to be non-committal about whether Bishop is going to play until the last minute. It is kind of the same situation here, as he has not confirmed his veteran goaltender’s status for Game 5, or whether he will go with Andrei Vasilevskiy instead.
<Vietbet patrons will just have to wait to find out.
Stanley Cup Finals Betting
In the betting odds that have been posted on this game by the people at Vietbet, Tampa Bay is the favorite at home:
Tampa Bay Lightning -125
Chicago Blackhawks +105
Over 5.5 goals -150
Under 5.5 goals +130
He says he believes in both of them, but there would be little question that the Lightning play a different kind of the game with their 20-year-old Russian netminder, and some think it is not the right style play. Going back to Game 1, there was much criticism about Tampa Bay strategy of playing defense-first. Well, they are feeling must have been that they HAD to do that in order to protect the youngster, and so they had to give up something on the offensive end. The result was a 2-1 defeat in which most observers granted that the Lightning probably played a little better. That doesn’t matter; the series is now even at two games apiece and they will move to Amalie Arena in Tampa on Saturday night at 8 PM ET, televised by NBC.
It was not the kind of thing that was necessarily pleasing to those folks betting on of the Stanley Cup that they did not know what was going to happen with Bishop. Actually, we don’t really even know the nature of what kept him out of the lineup. What we know is that he had to be removed twice in the third period of Game 2, and that gave the youngster a little time in goal.
We don’t know if the Blackhawks really fear with Vasilevskiy can do, as this is his first time on the big stage. But then again, for most of the Lightning players, that is the case. Meanwhile, Chicago is trying to win its third Stanley Cup in a stretch of six seasons. And Vietbet customers are aware that they are a club that is very good when the game is tight in the final 20 minutes. The first four games of this Finals series have been decided by one goal, and that is the first time that is happened since 1968, when Montréal swept the St. Louis Blues.
One would have to admit that Tampa Bay did a pretty good job on defense the other night, as the Blackhawks only got 19 shots on goal. By contrast, Chicago had 19 shots during the first 20 minutes of Game 4. So in a sense, Cooper will be faced with a dilemma, as his club will likely not be able to play the wide-open style is accustomed to if Bishop sits again.
Vietbet has some great wagering options for the Stanley Cup finals, and that includes Live Betting Extra, which allows customers to wager on the game, with side, total and props betting available while the action progresses…… You can make your deposit using a Visa card, or the virtual currency of Bitcoin!
