NHL Playoff Betting - Phoenix vs Detroit

Can Coyotes Down the Favored Red Wings? 

Heading into their first round series with the Red Wings, the Phoenix Coyotes have to feel a bit disrespected as the NHL betting underdogs.

After all, they found themselves looking down on the Red Wings for most of the season from near the top of the Western Conference as Detroit struggled just to find their way into playoff contention all season.

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But with their prestige and recent playoff history shaping opinions, it comes as little surprise to NHL Playoff betting fans that the Wings are the favorite and more popular betting pick for their first round series.

The Coyotes finished five points ahead of Detroit with the fourth seed in the Western Conference, but now, they find themselves as the NHL Playoff betting underdogs against one of the NHL's premier franchises as Detroit is a popular Stanley Cup Champion sleeper pick this season.

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NHL Western Conference First Round Playoff Series

4.Phoenix Coyotes (50-25 SU, 26-46-10 ATS) vs. 5. Detroit Red Wings (43-24 SU, 34-45-3 ATS)

First Game: Wednesday, April 14 at Phoenix, 10 pm ET 

TV: Versus for Games 1, 2, and 5, NBC for Games 3 and 6, TSN for Games 4 and 7 

NHL First Round Series Betting Line: Detroit favored at -200 to +160 for the Coyotes.

The young Coyotes franchise finds itself in the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and they've drawn the one team no one wanted to play in the first round.

Home ice advantage usually helps a lot for the later games but the Red Wings don't seem to care where they play as evidenced by their past playoff successes. Detroit was under .500 on the road against the spread this year but playoff hockey is a different animal and the Wings weren't healthy at all until the last quarter of the season.

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For the Coyotes to win this series, they will need Ilya Bryzgalov to get hot in the playoffs like he did with the Anaheim Ducks back the 2006 and 2007 playoffs when he posted a goals-against average of 1.68 for the 16 games he was able to play in.

The Coyotes gave up the third-lowest amount of goals in the league this season so they have the blueprint down for beating the Red Wings.

When teams face the Red Wings in the playoffs, the fact of the matter is that they are going to get out-shot.

The Wings are the NHL playoff betting favorite for that reason especially as they have one of the best skating teams in the league and always seem to get more shots on goal.

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Detroit will need Jimmy Howard to play through the pressure and not let his youth show in this series to beat the betting underdog Coyotes, and Howard seems up to the task with the way he played down the stretch.

Detroit also has Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk back healthy and working as one of the best tandems in the league.

With Detroit coming in healthy and on an 8-1-1 roll heading into the playoffs according to the straight up betting trends, the Red Wings are the best betting pick here over the Coyotes.

NHL Playoff Series Betting Pick: Detroit Red Wings at -200.

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