The Vancouver Canucks had the Edmonton Oilers' number throughout the regular season, going 4-0-0 in the head-to-head clashes. This included two dominating wins at home, by the respective scorelines of 8-1 and 6-2.
Despite this dominance, the oddsmakers still made the Oilers favourites, when the Pacific Division opponents were matched up in the second round of these playoffs. The thinking was that on their day, coach Kris Knoblauch had the stronger overall roster compared to Rick Tocchet in Vancouver, which is objectively correct.
Even when the Oilers lost home-ice advantage with a 4-3 defeat in game three at Rogers Place, the oddsmakers maintained their collective belief in the team. As much as the various betting companies know what they're doing -- hence the saying the house always wins -- this still seemed somewhat surprising, given the Canucks at that point were now 6-1-0 in the regular season and playoffs combined versus their Canadian rivals, including 3-0-0 on enemy territory in Edmonton.
Oddsmakers stick by the Oilers as favourites
Since then, the Oilers have taken two of the three contests to tie the series at 3-3 and take it to a deciding game seven back in Vancouver. And as it turns out, the oddsmakers maintain their stance that Knoblauch and his players will emerge victorious, despite facing a hostile atmosphere at Rogers Arena.
Consider that both FanDuel and DraftKings have the Canucks as 1.5 goal underdogs to win on Monday night. As much as the hockey world is collectively thankful Brock Boeser's blood-clot issue is not life or career-threatening, his absence is still a big blow to the team and their fans in Vancouver.
With FanDuel specifically, they have the Oilers as -161 favourites, compared to +134 for the Canucks as underdogs. Meanwhile, DraftKings have Edmonton at -162, as opposed to +136 for Vancouver.
In respect of any-time goalscorers, both companies have Zach Hyman as the most likely to score, which makes sense given he leads all NHL players with 10 playoffs goals ahead of Monday night's clash. Similarly, FanDuel and DraftKings also both then have Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid respectively to score a goal at any time, followed by J.T. Miller of the Canucks.
There is then a slight discrepancy, with DraftKings having both the Canucks' Elias Pettersson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Oilers at +225 to score. Meanwhile, FanDuel have Pettersson ahead of Nugent-Hopkins as more likely to score a goal, at +230 and +280 respectively.
Overall though, as has been written and said on many occasions, games are won on the ice rather than off it, and the reality is the NHL world has underestimated the Canucks all season long. Of course as an Oilers site we want to see them advance to the Western Conference Final to face the Dallas Stars, but this is a game which seems poised (destined) to be tense and close affair which could go either way, or, as they like to call it in the betting world, a pick'em.