Boston Bruins at Columbus Blue Jackets Betting Odds
- Bruins odds: +110
- Blue Jackets odds: -120
- Over/Under: 5.5
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- TV: NBCSN
>> Odds as of 11 a.m. ET. Download The Action Network App to get NHL odds and live win probabilities on your bets.
Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella is never one to hold back, so it isn't surprising he said that his team would force a Game 7 in his post-game presser after a 4-3 loss in Game 5 on Saturday night.
According to the Action Network's consensus odds, Columbus is a -120 favorite on Monday night, which implies the Jackets have a 53.4% chance of backing up their head coach's guarantee.
That number is pretty much right in between where the Jackets closed for their first two home games of this series. In Game 3, Columbus closed at -113 and in Game 4 it was a -125 favorite.
At 5-on-5, these two teams have been pretty close to evenly-matched in this series. Boston has the slight edge (51.7%) in expected goals, but Columbus has generated more high-danger scoring chances (51.7%).
The Bruins have been the better team at driving play (55.7%) and their goalie, Tuukka Rask, has been superb with a .947 save percentage at 5-on-5. The Blue Jackets have scored 7 goals at 5-on-5 but they have generated 8.5 expected goals, so Rask has been worth about 1.5 goals to the Bruins this series.
This series has played out at a below-average pace in terms of scoring chances. Even Game 5, which featured a series-high seven goals, was a low-event game through the first two periods. The character of that game changed on a dime as the two teams combined for six goals in the third period.
That 20-minute stretch is an outlier in this series as the two teams had yet to combine for over five goals in a game (including two overtimes) prior to Game 5.
The Jackets are deserved favorites on home ice, but I am siding with Boston as I think their chances to win this game are better than the 46.6% implied probability.
The likeliest scenario for this game is that it will be ground down to a coin flip and that a mistake here or a moment of magic there will decide the winner. With that being the case, I'll take a chance on the team that should see more of the puck at +110 or better.
There's always the chance that Sergei Bobrovsky steals the show, but that's a chance I'm willing to take at these odds.
