Some NHL betting fans are tired of hearing that Chris Osgood is underrated. Others are tired of hearing that’s he’s overrated.

Well, when it comes to assessing the Stanley Cup Final odds, I’m sick of both sides! Why? Because it doesn’t matter. Pittsburgh has the goaltending edge no matter what anyone thinks. The Osgood haters will tell you he rides coattails, that he gives up soft goals, that he was garbage in the regular season (and he was — 3.09 GAA, .887 save percentage). The lovers will tell you he was good outside Detroit (Had a season with 30-plus wins and a .910 save percentage in Long Island and Detroit).

But neither opinion matters, as Marc-Andre Fleury is still better. He’s matched Osgood’s great playoff stats, he’s younger, he’s more athletic, he likes pressure and, perhaps most importantly, he’s good enough to steal a game. No matter how much you may like Osgood in NHL betting, he doesn’t steal games. Fleury can — and maybe he will against Detroit, just like he stole Game 5 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final odds. He’s a big reason why I think the Pens will win this series…

Worse than no Kobe/Lebron in NBA odds (well, it sure looks that way for the final), steroids — yes steroids — have suddenly been linked to the supposedly squeaky-clean NHL.

Ugh. Everyone knows Sudafed gets passed around dressing rooms like candy, but the NHL odds of steroid use seemed slim to me. But why? Why would NHL players be any different — in fact, speed, strength and explosiveness are as crucial to hockey as they are to any sport, so steroid use in hockey betting would make sense. So maybe I was just in denial.

Worse yet — the Florida couple busted with large amounts of PEDs on them claimed they sold to the Washington Nationals (I doubt that; we’d be seeing results) and, gulp, the Washington Capitals. Unless it was the Penguins, there’s probably not a worse team to pop up in this scandal. The prospect of the world’s best player, Alexander Ovechkin, being linked to steroids is heartbreaking.

How much longer until we concede that every athlete juices and everything returns to normal? Sigh.

Sorry for the downer post — I’ll crank things up tomorrow with a full-fledge rap song previewing Stanley Cup betting. The Penguins vs Red Wings odds should be a sports wagering doozie.

Sacrilege! Worse than a Belmont Stakes odds jockey saying “Triple Crown” to jinx his horse!

Yes, after the Penguins advanced to the Stanley Cup Final odds last night, Sidney Crosby did the unthinkable and TOUCHED THE WALES TROPHY. If you’re a hockey betting fan, you know it’s supposedly a curse to do so.  But is there really much evidence to back it up? Scott Stevens broke the rule in 2003, handing the trophy around to his whole team, and the Devils’ NHL odds didn’t suffer, as they went on to win the Cup.

Mario Lemieux touched the trophy in the years when the Penguins last won the Cup and, as Sid the Kid pointed out in a post-game interview, the Pens didn’t touch the trophy last year and they didn’t win the cup. Good on the Pens for mixing things up. As good as the Red Wings are (oh, and, uh, the Blackhawks if they win, haha), it’s looking more and more like Pittsburgh’s year at online sports book.

NHL odds betting is a strange beast. In some years, when we desperately want to see certain storylines come to fruition, the hockey betting Gods laugh at us. Take 2007; the Leafs and Canadiens were both eliminated in the last 24 hours of the regular season and the New York Islanders made the big Dance.

We also saw the following TRASHY mid-2000s Stanley Cup odds sports wagering matchups:

New Jersey/Anaheim

Tampa Bay/Calgary

Edmonton/Carolina

Ottawa/Anaheim

Almost as bad as — gulp — Orlando/Denver possibly meeting in the NBA odds final! Well, finally, things have changed for the better. The Original Six teams are making a comeback — five of six made the bet online NHL playoffs and we’re getting to see the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds right now — and we even got to see the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup we so patiently awaited. Now, the Pens and Wings are each one win away from a rematch. If they win their next games, the Stanley Cup odds will start Saturday. Woo!

I know it’s getting warmer outside and it’s hard to watch hockey in late May, but try not to take this year’s great matchups for granted, NHL odds followers.

Like picking Bjorn Borg in the French Open odds, I’m a bit behind the times here, as the Hawks look finished, but I figure I should weigh in on the Kronwall/Havlat hit that rocked NHL betting Friday night.

Let’s start by watching the hit again:

My thoughts: the league and refs probably handled everything right, but I’m not even totally convinced Kronwall deserved a penalty there. Most people would bet at the sportsbook that Kronwall left his feet to deliver that kind of impact, but he was flat-footed. Also, the play wasn’t interference, as Havlat was handling (or attempting to handle) the puck. In theory, I guess you could say Kronwall committed an NHL betting faux-pas by “hitting someone in a vulnerable position,” but where do you draw the line? Most guys carrying the puck are in a vulnerable position.

It’s not the end of the world that Kronwall got the boot from the game, and I can understand why the refs had to react quickly to what they saw, but I’m glad the NHL didn’t discipline him any more than that. It would’ve been a major detriment to any sports wagering fans resting their hopes on Detroit’s Stanley Cup odds.

Danica Patrick’s Indy 500 odds looked better than Evgeni Malkin’s odds of scoring another playoff goal this season just a few weeks ago. Boy, has that ever changed.

After everyone wrote him off or called him out — including this blog — Geno has responded in a big way, to the tune of 13 friggin’ points in his last five hockey betting contests. Pretty damned impressive. Who knows what flicked the switch? Whatever the reason, he’s totally rediscovered his game. He’s using his great size to protect the puck, he’s hitting, he’s taking punishment — hell, he even dropped the gloves last night — and he’s handling the puck with confidence. The crescendo was last night’s hat trick, topped off by this gorgeous goal:

The Stanley Cup odds look better for the Penguins by the second, don’t they? Crosby hasn’t slowed down and Malkin’s back. It’ll be interesting to see if he can avoid another disappearing act in the Final should the Penguins get there.

Enjoy the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds tonight! More Pens tomorrow plus the UFC 98 odds. Should be fun for sports wagering fans.

Maybe I’m distracted by this weekend’s Indy 500 odds (Danica Patrick! Go Daddy!) or something, but I just realized that I never really made picks for the Conference Final series.

Since the action is well underway, I’ll make some “educated” picks for those who bet online hockey.

Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds

Well, the Wings are already up 2-0 and look pretty safe to advance to the Stanley Cup odds final, but I don’t see a sweep happening. The United Center has rocked all playoffs long and should boost the Hawks tomorrow night. They’ll come out hitting and, more importantly, they’ll play more conscientious defense, almost like a team boosted by the home crowd in basketball betting, so I think they take Game 3 and, say….Game 5 on the road, where the haven’t played badly. Red Wings in six.

Penguins vs Hurricanes odds

The theme of these hockey betting playoff continues to be the lack of respect for the Hurricanes, and I’m guilty of it, but I’m still not mending my ways. As I said yesterday, the Penguins are my sports wagering pick to win it all and their confidence seems to grow with each game. The seven-game wars with Boston and New Jersey took too much out of the Canes. I say the Pens win in five.

Big weekend for betting sports ahead! Enjoy the action.

I’m back, hockey betting fans. Did you miss me? No, I wasn’t off cavorting with basketball betting fans. suppose I should’ve told you I was leaving North America for a week. Well, here I am, having missed the beginning of the Penguins vs Hurricanes odds and the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds and trying to catch up.

I’ve noticed something interesting. Something that happened 25 years ago in hockey betting.

The year: 1984. The budding dynasty known as the Edmonton Oilers reaches the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year. The season prior, the young Oilers lost to the powerhouse New York Islanders, who captured their fourth straight Stanley Cup odds crown. In 1984, though, the Oilers, led by legendary superstars Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, faced the Islanders again and took the next step forward, triumphing over the Isles in five games.

The year: 2009. The budding dynasty known as the Pittsburgh Penguins is up 1-0 in the Conference Final after losing in last year’s Stanley Cup final to the Detroit Red Wings, who captured their third cup in 11 seasons. Now, the Wings and Pens are on a collision course to meet again in the final, and something tells me the result will follow the path of the ‘84 Oilers, as Crosby and Malkin take the torch from Gretzky and Messier.

I’m saying it now: the Penguins will win the Stanley Cup odds this season. Make a sports wagering pick now, why don’t ya?

Mine that Bird may disappoint in the Preakness odds according to the hype, but it will be tough to top the egg Roberto Luongo laid last night in Game 6 against the Chicago Blackhawks, in which Vancouver was eliminated.

Hey, the blame can’t all be placed on Luongo — the Canucks crapped the bed as a team last night — but it’s hard to get around the fact that a guy who’s supposed to be the best goalie in hockey betting allowed four goals on nine shots in the third period of an elimination game.

Seeing an emotional Luongo storm off the ice, I started wondering about Luongo. Wondering what he’d won in his career.  As a Quebec Major Junior Leaguer, he won the league title but lost in the Memorial Cup. In the World Junior Championships, he lost in the Gold Medal game. He does have two gold medals in the World Hockey Championship and a gold in the World Cup of hockey.

As an NHLer, he’s played on just two playoff teams - both as a Canuck. And hasn’t made it past Round 2. Now, I DON’T want to jump to conclusions, as I really think he’s a supremely talented goalie, but I think if he repeats this year’s performance — in which he arguably didn’t steal a single playoff game — it may be time to label him the Joe Thornton of goaltending.

it happens in online sport betting — not just in hockey betting, but NBA odds too. Some guys are amazing physical specimens but just don’t have that extra “winner” gene in their makeup. Karl Malone comes to mind.

Too early to judge Luongo, but I’m just sayin’, it’s something to ponder.

Kinda like that horse Rachel Alexandra entering the Preakness odds, my hockey punishment opinions come out of left field at times. My main gripe, one I’ve stressed for years in hockey betting circles, is that the NHL punishes cheap shots based on injuries rather than actions.

Take the cheap shot in last night’s Hurricanes vs Bruins sports wagering matchup, for example. Scott Walker brutally suckerpunched the helpless Aaron Ward late in the game, dropping him to the ice like a ton of bricks and (possibly) breaking a bone in Ward’s face. The punishment: a $2,500 fine.

What do you think the punishment would’ve been had Ward hit his head on the ice and suffered serious brain drama leading to death, as Don Sanderson did?

The fact that it didn’t happen that way doesn’t make what Walker did any less dangerous, does it? If a player doesn’t suffer career or life-threatening injuries, you can bet at the sportsbook that the NHL won’t hand out a serious suspension to the perpetrator. How can you set an example when you let plays like Walker’s suckerpunch go? One or two isolated incidents — the best example would be Steve Moore’s — clearly haven’t scared the NHL betting goons enough. Any player who attempts a surprise attack like Walker’s should be treated like Todd Bertuzzi if you ask me.

Am I alone here? Anyone want to take a break from placing online sports bets and weigh in?