Ottawa Senators Stanley Cup Playoff Preview

NHL Betting is all about reading form correctly, the Senators will need to throw the form book out the window and dig deep if they are to progress in the 2008 playoffs.

The Ottawa Senators were historically good at the beginning of the season, but they have been horribly bad since that blistering start to the campaign. Throw in some key injuries as well, and the Sens just might be the riskiest team on which to do some playoff hockey betting right now.

It had seemed like a foregone conclusion that Ottawa would be in first place in the Eastern Conference at the end of the regular season. However, the Sens ended up 10 points behind the rival Montreal Canadiens in the Northeast Division standings, and they’ll enter the postseason as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.

That means a date with the high-flying Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, which could expose two of Ottawa’s bigger issues right now – lack of scoring depth, and inconsistent goaltending. The Sens have relied on the top-line trio of Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, and Daniel Alfredsson for goals all year long, and the team doesn’t do much damage when that unit is shut down by the opposition.

Alfredsson, though, is out indefinitely with both a head and a knee injury, and it remains to be seen when he’ll be able to return to the ice. Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly are also out with injuries, so Ottawa will start their series against the Pens without three of their top nine forwards. That’ll put a lot of pressure of Spezza and Heatley to outscore Sidney Crosby and company over the course of a seven-game series.

As for the keepers, the Senators seem to have settled on Martin Gerber as the guy who will give them the best odds to win the 2008 Stanley Cup. That means a bench role for Ray Emery, who led the team to the final last season. Gerber posted a 30-18-4 record with a 2.72 GAA and a .910 save percentage this year, while Emery went 12-13-4 with a 3.13 GAA and an .890 save percentage.

The Sens gained some valuable postseason experience last year, and shutdown defensive pairing Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov had a lot of success when Ottawa knocked Pittsburgh out of the 2007 playoffs. If the team can put it all back together quickly they just might be worthy of some playoff NHL betting – especially since their recent woes have dragged down their Stanley Cup odds.