Flyers Choke: Playoff Dreams Dashed 3j3u6u

The Flyers were the third-best team in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division on March 24th, just one day after defeating the Boston Bruins. They had a two-point lead over the Washington Capitals, a five-point lead over the New York Islanders, and an 11-point lead on the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, after losing eight games in a row, the Flyers are now the sixth-best team in the division, as Washington, New York, and Pittsburgh have all ed Philadelphia by. The Flyers were the favourites in five out of the eight games, too.

Date Away Home Win Prob Result
Mar. 24 FLA PHI 0.416 L
Mar. 26 PHI NYR 0.379 L
Mar. 28 PHI MTL 0.596 L
Mar. 30 CHI PHI 0.729 L
Apr. 1 NYI PHI 0.530 L
Apr. 5 PHI BUF 0.486 L
Apr. 6 PHI CBJ 0.607 L
Apr. 9 PHI MTL 0.565 L
Game odds from the 2023-24 NHL regular season

Out of curiosity, I decided to simulate Philadelphia’s last eight games 100,000 times using the game odds above to get a sense of just how bad the Flyers choked. The Flyers only went 0-8 in 156 out of 100,000 simulations, meaning that it only happened roughly 0.16% of the time. This never should have happened. In fact, the Flyers managed to win four or more games in roughly 72% of simulations, so they choked about as hard as they possibly could have.

According to CSB’s NHL projection model, the Flyers now have just a 3.7% chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs.

McDavid Will Be A Game-Time Decision On Wednesday 6k1v6f

According to Daily Faceoff’s Jason Gregor, Connor McDavid will not play on Wednesday versus the Vegas Golden Knights after the Oilers’ captain missed practice on Monday and Tuesday due to a lower-body injury. However, McDavid skated on Wednesday, and head coach Kris Knoblauch said that although he doesn’t want McDavid to rush things, he will leave it up to him as to whether or not he plays on Wednesday. These conflicting reports make this a hard game to handicap, but it could create a situation where there’s a lot of value on Edmonton if McDavid is in the lineup.

I wrote about NorthStar Bets opened up with Edmonton listed as a -156 favourite, but the Oilers’ odds were down to -125 by noon local time on Tuesday and they have since moved to -119. If McDavid is in the lineup, Edmonton’s odds should shoot back up to around -160, but if he doesn’t play, the Oilers’ chances will drop even more.

McDavid has only missed 15 games since the start of the 2016-17 regular season and the Oilers have gone 5-10 straight-up. The Oilers have also scored just 2.33 goals per game without McDavid in the lineup, compared to 3.27 goals per game with him in the lineup.

Bet on Oilers vs. Golden Knights 1v3i4a

EDM -119
VGK -102

With just 61 games left on the NHL regular season schedule, it’s time to look back on the 2023-24 campaign from a betting perspective before shifting gears to the playoffs.

Most and Least Profitable NHL Teams 1v1h1w

The St. Louis Blues are going to miss the playoffs, but there’s a good chance they will finish as the most profitable moneyline bet year-to-date. The table below contains a list of the most and least profitable moneyline bets in the NHL this season.

Team GP Road Win % Road Odds Away $ Home Win % Home Prob Home $ Total $
STL 78 45.0% 42.8% $3.80 60.5% 47.8% $11.78 $15.59
NYR 79 61.0% 55.7% $5.78 73.7% 62.6% $6.84 $12.62
NSH 79 59.0% 48.7% $8.77 55.0% 55.4% -$0.79 $7.98
VAN 78 56.4% 53.3% $3.05 66.7% 59.9% $4.68 $7.74
WSH 78 43.6% 40.7% $3.54 51.3% 48.3% $2.49 $6.03
WPG 78 59.0% 54.3% $3.98 64.1% 60.6% $1.42 $5.40
FLA 79 63.4% 55.9% $4.52 60.5% 64.2% -$1.29 $3.24
TBL 78 50.0% 51.2% -$1.34 63.2% 57.3% $4.20 $2.86
TOR 78 61.5% 56.1% $3.74 56.4% 59.8% -$1.91 $1.84
DAL 79 63.4% 58.1% $3.17 63.2% 64.1% -$1.48 $1.69
DET 78 42.1% 43.5% -$2.98 55.0% 51.7% $3.40 $0.41
CAR 79 60.5% 58.9% $0.87 65.9% 66.3% -$0.60 $0.27
COL 79 47.5% 57.1% -$6.39 76.9% 65.4% $6.59 $0.20
BOS 79 56.4% 56.3% $0.87 60.0% 63.4% -$2.05 -$1.18
PHI 79 42.5% 45.3% -$0.05 48.7% 51.3% -$1.46 -$1.51
BUF 79 43.6% 44.0% -$0.97 50.0% 52.2% -$0.95 -$1.92
EDM 76 53.8% 60.7% -$4.12 70.3% 65.8% $1.88 -$2.24
VGK 77 45.0% 54.0% -$6.38 64.9% 59.9% $4.07 -$2.31
MTL 78 36.8% 35.6% -$0.74 40.0% 42.5% -$4.14 -$4.88
LAK 78 53.7% 54.6% -$0.13 51.4% 60.4% -$5.98 -$6.11
ANA 79 35.9% 33.8% $1.92 30.0% 39.7% -$8.65 -$6.73
NYI 78 43.6% 49.2% -$3.23 48.7% 54.7% -$3.77 -$7.01
ARI 78 31.6% 42.4% -$11.82 52.5% 47.2% $3.64 -$8.18
CGY 77 42.1% 48.7% -$5.68 48.7% 53.8% -$2.70 -$8.39
OTT 78 36.8% 46.0% -$6.44 50.0% 52.9% -$2.32 -$8.76
MIN 78 44.7% 48.4% -$3.29 50.0% 55.4% -$5.69 -$8.98
PIT 78 37.5% 50.5% -$10.83 55.3% 56.8% -$0.19 -$11.01
CBJ 79 25.6% 36.0% -$14.11 40.0% 40.2% $2.89 -$11.22
CHI 77 18.4% 30.2% -$15.23 41.0% 37.4% $3.36 -$11.86
NJD 79 51.3% 51.3% -$0.59 42.5% 59.6% -$11.77 -$12.36
SEA 77 43.2% 47.4% -$3.18 42.5% 52.9% -$9.27 -$12.45
SJS 78 18.4% 28.4% -$11.77 27.5% 32.6% -$5.87 -$17.64
Most and Least Profitable NHL Teams in 2023-24 (Moneyline)